Steal the Glamour From Death
by ghostofgonzo
Summary: It is widely known and accepted that Hermione is the brightest witch of her age. Why then does she allow and follow along with Harry and Ron's half-baked plans in bringing down the most powerful dark wizard of her time? Deathly Hallows planned by Hermione with a few twists.
1. Prologue

*Standard disclaimers apply: anything that seems familiar or was featured in any HP books does not belong to me...obviously.

PROLOGUE

Hermione had been on holiday with her parents when it happened. As far as they had been concerned, the only very special thing about it was that it would be their last family holiday before their daughter graduated Hogwarts and entered the real world. Well, at least partially. They had spent the previous summer taking mini-holidays to various locations through the continent and Americas looking at wizarding universities that also offered programs that would give her simultaneous muggle degrees. Hermione had some vague ideas as to what to do with her life, but hadn't decided on anything and so, being as practical as her parents, had agreed to more schooling that would leave her with plenty of options once finished.

She hadn't told them she was so indecisive because she was almost certain she wouldn't be alive for whatever future they were helping her build. That would have not only worried them, but broken their hearts. She also hadn't told them she had been watching them extra closely, listening a little harder since the traveling the previous summer. Her only plans at that point were to erase any memory they might have of her and get them out of England. Of course, she wanted them to be happy wherever they were going, so she paid extra attention.

France was the most likely before this vacation, both she and her parents adored the French countryside and even spoke passable French, but if England was taken over, she knew Voldemort would set his sights on France across the channel as a stepping stone into Europe. The ICW was based in Paris, making it a target should England fall, which was far too near to London especially by wizarding travel. If England fell, France would be next, and her parents would be in just as much danger even if they didn't know her anymore.

The Americas were incredibly attractive to her for this reason, particularly Canada. Whereas the east and west coasts of the United States would hold appeal to Voldemort should he get through Europe, Canada was fairly unremarkable. And there were some fantastic schools. She kept this in mind as a backup plan, but her parents were generally unimpressed with the Americas, even if they were interested in one of the universities outside Montreal. She had been hoping they'd want to perhaps purchase a second home wherever she decided to go to school and would send them there to hide making it more their decision than hers, so she feigned disinterest in the European schools they had looked at. Her parents disinterest in Canada was not pretend.

That summer they were checking out the last school from their list in Australia. Neither Hermione nor her parents had really had any previous interest in Australia, which is why it was the last on their list despite it's attractive offerings. Now that war loomed closer than ever, Hermione was finding more and more reasons to be interested in the secluded continent. Her parents, luckily, fell in love immediately. They kept making comments about how they'd love to spend a few years down under, shake up their lives a bit, perhaps find a nice place with plenty of sun to retire to when the time came. Hermione couldn't believe her luck when they visited the Melbourne University of Magic and Sorcery and fell in love with the offerings. Though they had elevated to university status only three years prior, the school had managed to put together some incredibly interesting and cutting edge programs aimed at unifying the magic and mundane and had thus attracted some very important names from around the globe.

The admissions department was incredibly impressed with Hermione's resume and she was incredibly impressed with the differences from Hogwarts. So she applied officially, took early entrance exams, and got accepted unusually quickly. Part of this was because of a private chat she had had with the dean while her parents were talking with people in the financial aid department. Being a half-blood with family on both sides in England, he understood the scope and seriousness of her situation back home and how important it was for her to fight in this war, but keep her family as safe as possible. After accepted, he used connections in the Australian Ministry and Canada to make it seem as if she had been accepted to the _Montreal_ University of Magic and Sorcery and sent papers to both the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts stating such. The deal was she would return to Melbourne for her schooling after the war, doing any work she could to help the university, and would smuggle illegal portkeys to people in the staff's families in England before any anti-muggle legislation was passed so they could quietly disappear.

Whereas Hermione did have her qualms about making shady deals like this, but knew it was her best option. The dean had also agreed to take in any students that would be in danger at Hogwarts without Dumbledore. This is what had sold Hermione. He gave her a few dozen additional portkeys for this, making her promise that she would not only attend their university, but get Harry Potter to endorse it once the war was over. Taking in refugees would make the Australian Ministry step from the shadows in the international circuit, clearing any qualms from their Ministry, and for a school that was struggling to make something of itself, they needed international press and lots of it.

He asked her to spread word to two people she would have access to that he had not been able to contact - tri-wizard competitors Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour. Fleur still had a lot of influence at Beauxbatons and Viktor was not only a huge influence at Durmstrang, but an international quidditch star. Hermione took it a step further and offered to put them in contact with Puddlemere United star Oliver Wood, who she had struck up a friendship with over the previous year when he had joined the Order of the Phoenix. He was currently out of a job with the Quidditch league on hiatus and a quick international owl later found a certain quidditch player touring the Melbourne University with thoughts to continue his formal education during the hiatus. (As well as be the Order's acting welcoming committee for refugees.)

Setting up details was tedious and stressful, but seeing her interest in the school, and then acceptance, at least gave her parents something to focus on as they went house hunting while she took entrance exams and plotted. Explaining her plan to the dean, he introduced her to an aboriginal medicine woman that would be able to help her accomplish wiping her parents memories without making it a permanent thing. It was this incredible witch that gave Hermione the gift she needed to save them all.

While her parents house hunted and vacationed thinking Hermione was taking a summer class to try the school out, Hermione learned aboriginal magics to erase their memories. More than once she felt that her teacher was judging her choices and trying to decide on telling her something. On the last day of training she found out what.

"I don't think you're making the right choice in looking forward, Hermione."

"If I don't look forward, where should I look?" she asked, knowing that arguing would mean she'd never get an answer.

"Back, of course. Eliminate the seed before it flowers," she told her. "But you must learn your history first."

"There's no way to go back that far - time turners only work a few hours at a time," Hermione argued, having considered this a year ago.

"Pity that, yes?" her teacher commented, eyes sparkling. "Too bad no one's figured that one out yet. And they can't bounce you back either. Seems like the work was left half done, if you ask me."

"It would be catastrophic if people or even governments had the ability to change the past to their liking," Hermione pointed out, her teacher nodding sagely in agreement.

"Yes it would. Convenient then that we've only figured out going back a few hours at a time," she agreed with another twinkle.

"I'm going to continue forward," Hermione told her resolutely.

"Then let me allow you the power to see what's passed," the witch asked, her tone almost begging. "I have an amulet. It will allow you to see things more clearly. Just you. You have the training and the soul for it. It's prophesy amongst my people that a foreign witch will use our hindsight to cure the world of evil for a thousand years."

Hermione fought to keep the grin and chuckle from her voice at that. "And I'm this foreign witch?"

"I believe you could be and have conferred with the proper people. We agree this sounds rather superstitious, but with such a great reward to be had, we will take our chances. I ask only that you keep an open mind and try to return the amulet should we be incorrect."

"Of course," Hermione agreed. "You're giving this to me knowing that I have no intention of using it, yes?"

"I'm giving this to you knowing you have the wisdom to know if you should use it," she argued. "I can see souls, Hermione, and yours has done great things. It is destined for more before it rests. Let yourself remain open to the possibility."

Hermione put on the amulet and returned to the new home her parents had bought. After they had retired for the evening, she set up the first part of her plan. The Grangers would return to England the next day, pack their belongings, sell their home and practice, and head back to Australia. As they left the Melbourne home, Hermione cast the second part of her spell. Once her parents entered the house, all memory of her would be erased. Their papers would name them Monica and Wendell WIlkins, like the deeds to the house and their new practice already did thanks to the Australian Ministry, and they wouldn't remember anything about magic or a daughter they had once wished for, but be ready to start the second half of their lives in Australia.

As she watched her parents get in the taxi to take them to the airport a couple weeks later, Hermione sighed heavily and took the disillusionment spell off. They thought she had left the night before to go to the Burrow to spend the last few weeks before she started university a year early with her friends. The government and Hogwarts thought her parents were headed to Montreal and she would be meeting them there before the school year began. She was spending one last night in her childhood home before heading to the Bulgaria for a few days and then the Burrow to help with Bill and Fleur's wedding. Official paperwork would send people to the opposite side of the globe should they hunt down her parents looking for her and the Montreal University was prestigious enough that Voldemort wouldn't take any action against it directly. Her charm on the Melbourne house would assure that her parents wouldn't know anything was even slightly amiss. They were starting a new life abroad following the death of Hermione's last grandparent the year previous, as far as they were concerned. Hermione had played upon this desire of living abroad her parents had had their entire lives in hopes they would be happier.


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE: ROMANIA AND THE BURROW

Viktor had been very comforting when she entered his small, secluded home the next morning and gave her a shoulder to cry on and a strong cup of tea spiked with something stronger to help get herself back together. Whereas things had fizzled out between them romantically the more they got to know each other, their friendship had only grown stronger. The two now had a sibling-type bond like she shared with Harry, but with most of their friendship being carried out through letters, they were closer personally and talked more. It was one of her greatest wishes that once the war was over, she could find a way to incorporate Harry into their friendship. The three of them were only children who had desperately wanted siblings their whole life. Hermione loved the idea of them being each other's family and daydreamed about that the way most girls her age daydreamed about boys.

Because she didn't trust most means of communication anymore, her letters to Viktor had only told him of her acceptance to the university in Montreal and her parents' impending move there. Over breakfast, she explained everything, gave him a third of the extra portkeys she had, and set up plans to stay in contact through the war. Using notebooks she had worked with the aboriginal witch to charm and a few drops of blood, she explained how his would communicate with anyone who had one, but that only his magical signature could send messages or read any incoming ones. Each notebook had several shades of paper that would correspond to specific people. The white sheets in the front would communicate to all. They tried the notebooks to make sure they worked, even inviting his mother over to test their security, before she left.

Hermione had one secret stop to make that she hadn't even discussed with Viktor. Though frightened that her plans were not as secret as she had originally thought, she was too curious and too indignant to not go to the meeting requested of her in Romania. Plus, she knew it wasn't too far from the dragon preserve she was supposed to meet Charlie Weasley at later that day. She was surprised to see Severus Snape without any disguise in the small cafe he had sent her the coordinates to and made sure to keep her guard up as she approached.

"I ordered coffee for you, if you don't mind, Miss Granger, with all your traveling it seemed you might need it," he commented almost pleasantly as she sat.

"Coffee's fine," she assured him as the waitress saw her and brought it out. After a quick glance at the menu, she put in her order as well, Snape requesting that the waitress take her time, but keep their coffees full.

"I'm rather surprised to see you rather than a gaggle of the Order here to apprehend me," he commented, sipping at his own coffee. "And alone at that. I never took you for foolish, Miss Granger."

"You said no harm would come to me and it was rather public place, out of the way though it is, sir. I never took you for untrustworthy," she quipped back, fixing her own cup to her liking as he smirked in an almost grin.

"I imagine you're expecting me to either kill you or win you over for the dark lord," he commented, watching the townspeople go about their daily business.

"Either way, could you answer one question first?" she asked, continuing at his raised eyebrow and slight nod. "Why did you do it? I mean, other than saving Malfoy. I managed to work that part out. He was one of your Slytherins you vowed to protect and your godson to boot. But I imagine there were plenty of others willing to take the shot. Bellatrix probably would have spontaneously combusted with pride at taking out Dumbledore. Was it just to secure your position?"

"A bit crass, but astute," he acknowledged, smirking again. "Albus asked me to. Surely you saw his hand?"

"He was dying," she realized, letting it sink in.

"And wanted it to count for something. I owed him a life debt. He wanted to cash in with his," Snape remarked bitterly.

"As well as save Malfoy and secure you a place in the ranks without suspicion," she deduced, watching as he nodded slightly looking as if he had eaten something sour.

"I'm not entirely sure how much of that debt I really owed him in the end - the debt was for getting me _out_ of the dark lord's service, not further in," he commented. "But now you see my predicament. I'm a spy with no one to report my findings to."

"And no counter intelligence to offer the other side," she continued, nodding. "Why me?"

"You, Miss Granger, are the reason the boy who lives still lives. However, your heritage also makes you a prime target on top of that. If it's known, however, that your exceedingly forgiving heart has extended towards a former professor you have always worked so desperately to impress, I can afford you a certain amount of protection."

"So you'll let them know that you're in contact with me and are still getting information on not only the Order, but Harry as well through me and they'll take me off the most wanted list," she concluded.

"Something to that effect. Your impending schooling helps you as well," he told her.

"Howso? Surely I'd be considered less useful away from everything."

"Unless it's a master plan by the Order to have their best researcher and brightest mind kept safe half a world away while remaining in constant contact with everyone to do their thinking surrounded by a world renowned magical library," he concluded.

"So you're going to sell me as military intelligence," she laughed. "That's actually convoluted enough to sound like Harry or Ron came up with it."

"Which was the plan. I'm assuming you have come up with a way to contact people at this point, having visited Mr. Krum?"

"Of course," she told him, producing the notebook and explaining it. After lunch, they keyed him to her notebook and general messages only and took the charm from her pages so that Voldemort would be able to see what she was writing to him should he ask. He added a few clever charms as well so that he could write multiple messages - ones Voldemort could see and ones he couldn't.

As she handed over the completed journal, her fingers brushed his and she caught several quick flashes of memory - all from the previous war. None of them were clear and all had passed too quickly for her to process, but Hermione knew she would see them later when she dreamed. It was the amulet. She had no idea how it did it, but it would pick up things from the past, and sometimes future, when she made direct contact, storing them until she was unconscious and could process them. Shaking off his concern for her sudden unsteadiness, Hermione said goodbye and left him to pick up the check. She was uncertain about trusting him, but knew there was an advantage in his knowledge that could possibly outweigh any disadvantage being taken for a fool would bring. Plus, he'd secure her alibi and people wouldn't be looking for her in Britain.

Charlie Weasley was more than happy to escort Hermione back to England and overjoyed at a holiday back home, regardless of the current political atmosphere, because it had been so long since he had seen his family. He first showed her around the reserve, insanely happy and proud to be showing off his work to anyone, especially someone who asked such good questions and was genuinely interested, even if it was just because it was something she didn't know and she had no real passion for dragons. His family didn't visit him and found his job to be too dangerous without the glamour of Egyptian curse breaking that Bill's previous post had had. Though they didn't know each other well, Charlie and Hermione had always gotten along and had exchanged a few owls a year since he had helped with the Norbert situation her first year, so they were close enough for him to consider her part of the family like the rest of the Weasleys.

She enjoyed the fact that he had something to teach her that no one else she knew could and he enjoyed the fact that she actually listened, paid attention, and was intelligent enough to ask good questions that challenged his knowledge. They both enjoyed the other's love of chocolate dipped shortbread. Their journey back to the Burrow was one long, pleasant conversation for the both of them made even more pleasant by the tin of shortbread he had bought specially for the journey. Charlie was what Hermione imagined Ron would be like if he wasn't so jealous of everyone and everything all the time and focused on being himself rather than better than his brothers. But she supposed it was easier finding your identity as the second son rather than the sixth.

Hermione was questioned and then attacked with hugs and congratulations for her parents once they reached the Burrow. After a noisy dinner, she found herself washing dishes with Molly and Fleur while the boys, Ginny, and Arthur went out for a quick quidditch match. Arthur didn't normally join, but when all his children were home, he tried to do everything he could to spend time with them all together as a family. Percy not being there made the choice of activity easier, but the pain sharper for him. Molly and Fleur were both accomplished at homemaking, but didn't seem to work well with others. Seeing this, Hermione asked Fleur about her dress, who excitedly asked if she wanted to see it. Gaining a grateful grin from Molly, she let the French witch drag her up the stairs to the attic where she was hiding it under several protective wards.

"What is it you wanted to speak to me about then, Hermione?" Fleur asked as she sent a charm at the stairs to alert her if anyone was coming. "Surely you haven't changed so much as to really care about my dress, incredible though it is?"

"That obvious? I was trying to be subtle," Hermione lamented, laughing with Fleur, who was much more tolerable when she wasn't trying to impress her future husband's family in all the wrong ways or intimidate the student body of three school simultaneously.

"You keep looking at me like you want to say something and I didn't realize we were in any way close," Fleur pointed out. "Not that I have a problem with trying to become friends, we shall be almost like family soon, no? It's just...unexpected, is the word?"

"I'd very much like to be friends, Fleur. That's sort of what I wanted to talk about," Hermione smiled at her before explaining the cover story she hadn't even told the Weasleys yet. As far as anyone but Viktor knew, she really was going to Montreal after the wedding and her parents were already there. Fleur listened closely, asking prudent questions that reassured Hermione in her choice to include her. When all was said and done, Fleur had a notebook as well as the second third of portkeys and Hermione had turned over some hair to be included in the extensive wards of Shell Cottage, which she now knew the location of. Hermione was very proud of herself for successfully extending an olive branch to the witch intelligent and strong enough to be chosen for the TriWizard Tournament as well as securing a safe house for the future.

"It really is lovely," Hermione was telling Fleur as Molly entered the attic with a box in hand.

"It's just missing one thing," Molly told Fleur, walking over to the two admiring the designer dress and opening the box to reveal a gorgeous goblin made tiara. "It's been in the Prewett line for generations. I wore it when I got married, Ginny will wear it when she does. I'd be honored to have you wear it when you marry my eldest son."

"Not more honored than I would be to wear it," Fleur breathed, a hand on her chest, looking afraid to touch the dainty metalwork.

"It's part of my wedding gift to you," Molly told her, smiling. "I know I haven't been the most welcoming and we don't exactly see eye to eye, but my son loves you desperately and you've proven yourself as devoted as he is. Even if we never get along, I want you to know that you are more than welcome in this family because of that."

"Let's see how it looks then, yeah?" Hermione stepped in after a silent, choked up moment, taking the tiara and placing it on Fleur's equally shiny hair. "Oh, Fleur...it's perfect."

"It really is. I was going to go without a veil because I couldn't find one that was just right," she told them tearfully. "But with this, I will be able to wear my grandmother's veil, honor both my and Bill's families, and give my future husband the most beautiful bride I can. Molly, there are no words to express my gratitude for this," she gushed as the women packed up the tiara, Hermione being careful not to touch it a second time because the first had almost sent her reeling. At least everyone else had been so caught up in emotion that they had either not noticed or cared.

The next day she was invited to an Order meeting in which they discussed gathering Harry on his birthday at the end of the week. After everyone had left and she was on her own, she made sure to write this to Snape, telling him she didn't know how, but when. He thanked her for the information and sent her coordinates in his secret messages to a random corner of Diagon Alley near Weasley Wizarding Wheezes. Once she deduced where they led, she stopped Fred and George from leaving and asked to visit them the next day, citing a desire to see their shop and a dress for the wedding. When pressed suspiciously, she admitted that Fleur hadn't been impressed with _her_ dress and that she didn't want to upset the bride. Laughing about it, they agreed. Fleur insisting she go along to make sure she picked something more suitable and silencing Molly's worry and Ginny's desire to join her. Hermione had the feeling the Weasley women would enjoy a day without Fleur at the Burrow.

Fleur knew Hermione was in contact with multiple people and was helping with various war efforts without exchanging information with everyone. She was fine with this, she couldn't tell people what she didn't know. She did help Hermione talk to the twins the next day however, explaining the notebooks and secrecy. They were both given one and charged with finding a way to use their products for the war effort. Having run the obvious gamut with joke products, they were delighted to have a new goal - defensive products that sold as joke products. They may never have been driven by their studies like Hermione was, but needed stimulating new creative avenues none the less. On top of that, Hermione gained another safe house, a supply depot where no one would suspect ordering odd things unusual, and two deviously creative minds.

Snape's coordinates led her to an ordinary looking trash bin. Fleur pretended to be using it to try and clean a non-existent spot from her shoe indignantly while Hermione surreptitiously cast detection spells looking for whatever he had left. behind a loose brick in the wall behind the bin was a small vial of a shimmering, golden potion. Felix felicis, she knew immediately. He was telling Voldemort about Harry being moved. Turning the bottle in her hand, she saw a number printed on one side in his handwriting. Thirty-two. There would be thirty-two death eaters waiting for them. Sighing heavily, she let Fleur lead her into muggle London to pick a dress. In truth, she hadn't even bought one yet and was more than happy to let Fleur pick it out for her. In the end, both she and Fleur were happy with the choice and Fred had given wolf whistles and waggling eyebrows when he saw her modeling it for Ginny and Molly later that night.


	3. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO: SAVING HARRY AND PREPARATIONS

The next night, the bottle of felix felicis tucked safely in her pocket since she acquired it, she had been writing to Viktor when the rescue party for Harry arrived in the living room. They went over the plan with everyone before agreeing to leave in ten minutes time. Hermione chewed her lip thoughtfully. Should she tell Snape? How could she use the felix felicis to everyone's advantage without setting off any suspicions? A message from Snape solved that problem. _Tonight. Fletcher._ She read it, knowing they were already betrayed. Sighing, she wrote in the part he could share. _They're here. It's now._ If Voldemort already knew, she figured she may as well give the two of them some security for the future.

_You're a Gryffindor. I'm sure you'll manage the courage._

_**I'm sorry to trouble you with my worries, professor.**_

_It's best you do. Someone in the Order has betrayed you again. I will try and tag along to see what difference I might make._

_**Be careful, sir. You're much too valuable to the cause to lose.**_

After a quick note of polyjuice in the private section, that's all Hermione had time to write before saying goodnight to Viktor and pocketing her journal before they all traveled to number four, Privet Drive. The whole way she chewed her lip, trying to figure out how to best use the felix felicis. Once the plan was fully divulged in front of Harry, she knew she only had to really get one person per duo, which would also serve to extend the time of the luck. Her only problem was Moody. How was she to slip him potion? She eyed the twins, knowing they were better with sleight of hand, but figured they'd also be the closest watched.

"Something troubling you, Granger?" Moody asked as he filled glasses with polyjuice.

"Yes, sir, could I speak to you a moment before this begins?" she asked, walking over as everyone fought with Harry for his permission and hair. "See, I made some felix felicis at the university in my summer class. I've got a bit more secured elsewhere. I was thinking it'd be prudent to add some luck to such an important mission."

"I like your style, girl," Moody grinned. "Add it in, then. That'll put some extra luck with each duo, yeah?"

"And what about you, sir? Surely you'll be the first targeted. Won't you please take some?" Hermione begged a good two minutes, but the older auror refused, smiling and patting her on the shoulder when she finally gave up, thanking her for her concern as she separated the potion into all the glasses. She hated giving the luck to Mundungus, but she had to try and protect Moody one way or another.

Everything went so terribly wrong. She was horrified and glad and horrified at being glad Moody died. Had he survived, he would have known she had known they were betrayed before they started. Everything would come undone and they would cast her out. She sobbed for hours, feeling like the worst person on earth for thinking that while Viktor sent her messages trying to cheer her up and Snape thanked her for using the potion effectively. As much as he didn't care for the Weasley twins, it would have weighed heavily on his conscious had a fellow death eater not knocked into him, throwing his aim off, at _precisely_ the moment he cast the cutting curse at George, thus saving his life. It would have been suspect not to take the open shot, but luck seemed to have been on George and Arthur's side. Snape had been slightly punished for aiming at one of the Harry's, but he had insisted it was the clearer shot, having taken from her mention of polyjuice that his potion was more likely ingested by those who took the other potion as well. He also sent her instructions for a salve that would heal his head most cleanly while staving off infection. She set right to it once everyone was down for the night, taking comfort in remaining busy.

The following day everyone tried to ignore their sadness while frantically preparing for the wedding and the Delacour's, who would be there by supper. Hermione presented George with the salve, telling him it had been in one of her advanced books. He was actually speechless for a few moments before thanking her and making another ear joke. Fred watched her with a strange look on his face while she and George joked, as if seeing her clearly for the first time. Molly cried and hugged and thanked her when she heard that Hermione had spent the night before brewing for George, who insisted it wasn't a problem seeing as she couldn't sleep anyway and that, without a potions master, she ought to have been fine tuning her skills for the Order anyway. Fleur watched her closely, but said nothing. Hermione knew she suspected something was amiss, but trusted that so long as she didn't step too far out of line, she would remain quiet.

After that, Hermione was mostly excluded from wedding planning and helping. In efforts to keep the golden trio apart from each other and help the Order, Molly had sent her with Fred and George (who were less than helpful in general and had a business to run on top of that) to use the potions lab at their shop. Arthur had mentioned to the Order in their follow up meeting the day after picking up Harry that she had made George a salve for his ear and it was decided that Hermione's best use for the war effort was to create a stockpile of potions for them, having lost Snape. And so in the days leading up to the wedding while Harry and Ron were being forced into yardwork and flower arrangements, Hermione was in the back room of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes brewing several useful potions simultaneously with supplies from Hogwarts and funding for anything else she needed from a silent donor to the Order with expendable cash - Madam Longbottom. Fred and George took turns helping with the potions they knew like pain relievers, pepper up potion, and blood replenishments between minding the shop so she could focus on the touchier ones like felix felicis, the draught of living death, and wolfsbane.

Neither knew she was getting tips and special instruction from Snape. Fred, who was the stronger brewer and thus more often helping than George, had been the one to notice she spend a lot of time consulting her journal. When pressed, she told them it was Viktor she had been speaking to, who had actually gotten an O in his potions NEWT and could not only help if pressed, but would agree to whatever story she had told them if they asked him. They had been surprised until she pointed out it took more than brawn to be chosen by the goblet of fire. Fred asked about her conversations with Viktor often enough for her to get suspicious, but seemed more interested in how often they were talking than what they were talking about, so she let it be.

Trying to plan for the horcrux hunt was proving difficult. Hermione wasn't entirely convinced that they should just set out camping and thought it'd be better to have a home base to head out from once they had a lead. Harry and Ron seemed to think staying on the move was better, but also thought she should stay behind so she could have all her research materials. She almost laughed at that, remembering how Snape had worked to come up with a cover that Harry and Ron were likely to have thought of themselves and was oddly accurate with it. She sincerely hoped he survived the war. They may never be friends, but she enjoyed his sarcastic challenges. He kept her on her toes intellectually, which was something she wasn't used to, but highly appreciative of.

Harry's birthday party was a bit of a relief for her. She was able to key the final few journals to Neville, Luna, Remus, and Kingsley. She had also given one to Harry as part of her present so that those present who owned one already knew they'd be able to contact him. In a chat with Neville by the orchard while most of their peers were playing quidditch, she gave him her remaining portkeys, having delivered the ones she had promised to and paid visits to people she knew wouldn't be going to Hogwarts at all like Dean Thomas and the Creevey brothers, explaining their use and telling them to keep them handy for emergencies. Being stationed outside the Burrow the previous week had had it's advantages. Especially once she explained to Fred what she was doing and he and George covered for her while she was running her errands, even making a few for her in exchange for a few portkeys for people like Lee Jordan and Alicia Spinnet, who they were still close with. She had been more than happy to let other people make some of the choices, feeling too much responsibility in being solely responsible for essentially choosing who would be able to cheat death.

That night they stopped Harry from leaving on his own and she only barely stopped them from leaving without her entirely. She desperately didn't want to be left behind, but suddenly worried that it might be unavoidable. She spent the whole night before the wedding unpacking her beaded bag and repacking Harry and Ron's things into a backpack she had charmed the same way. Once she repacked her bag, she shrunk the backpack to pocket-size and set it aside. The next morning, while everyone was in a rush, she cornered Harry and slipped him the backpack and an untraceable wand she had procured from Snape, explaining the trace that had still been on her wand (which she had told him the university had noticed, not mentioning that was how Snape had tracked her and had taken it off for her), and how to expand the backpack when he needed, but to keep it on him at all times just in case. Thanking her, he head upstairs and immediately put his and Ron's journals into the pack, knowing it would be a huge setback to not have them at all times.

Their next big break was from the twins. They had finally perfected a lozenge that would disguise the user for an hour and hadn't put it on their shelves yet. Portable polyjuice, they were unofficially calling it, as it was their inspiration. It worked more like Tonks' metamorphmagus talents, though, changing a person's hair style and color as well as their eye and skin color. If you really looked closely and really knew the person, you could probably figure them out, but it would be difficult and enough for them to move around in public. They were handing out tins of them to everyone in the Order just in case.


	4. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE: THE WEDDING AND ESCAPE FROM WWW

The wedding was lovely. Fleur looked magnificent, as far as Hermione was concerned, and there was barely a dry eye after the emotionally charged vows. At the reception, she made time to dance with everyone, citing her impending schooling abroad to anyone who would listen for wanting to see everyone she'd miss so much. Fred and George smirked at her, having become privy to her master plan if not her plans with Harry and Ron, and took advantage of the fact to drag her onto the floor for increasingly wild and energetic dances every time she tried to sit down or get something to drink. She was in one such dance with Fred when Kingsley's lynx patronus appeared on the dancefloor in front of them.

_The ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming._

Everyone stood looking at the spot the silvery lynx had been in complete shock and silence for a few moments before chaos erupted. Hermione froze in place, her eyes wildly searching the beginnings of battle for Harry and Ron, making quite a target of herself as she shouted herself hoarse trying to call them. She saw them on the far side of the tent and managed to catch Harry's eye, who looked at her apologetically as the two disapparated. So that was the plan, then. Wait for the right moment and leave without her. Heart broken and stunned, she stood there, having screamed for them to wait as they disappeared. Death Eaters had taken note of her, though, and she only barely avoided a few nasty looking curses as she hit the floor, her body reacting before her brain for once.

"What the hell are you doing?" Fred demanded, sliding to her side as he ducked another spell aimed at him this time. "Get up, we've got to go!"

"They left me! They went on without me!" she exclaimed, starting to get angry.

"My-own, this is not the time," Viktor told her, appearing at her other side and helping Fred haul her up. "Fight now, use the anger. You can be upset later. Now you live."

"Right," she agreed, snapping back into focus. The three of them fought their way to the edge of the tent where George was trying to hold off three death eaters and protect an unconscious Ginny at the same time.

"About damn time you showed up, leaving me alone with an amateur like that," he scolded Fred, gesturing to Ginny.

"Couldn't leave Granger behind like our brother did, Forge," Fred pointed out, joining the fray.

"Check her!" Hermione demanded of Viktor, who she knew had a basic medical training from his studies outside of quidditch, while she took on the third death eater.

"She's stunned. She will be fine," Viktor shouted up to them, taking on a fourth approaching death eater. The tent was mostly empty of guests and Order members at this point, leaving them with targets for the remaining death eaters.

"They've got anti-apparition wards on the tent. I'll get Ginny if you back me up," Charlie told them as he fought his way over. A quick look around told them that the rest of the Weasleys had made it out.

"Viktor! Do you have your book?" Hermione asked and he nodded. "Go with Charlie. I'll stick with the twins. It's best we all split up."

Both he and Charlie nodded at this and the two groups made a break for it in opposite directions in a cloud of Peruvian Darkness Powder. Hermione, Fred, and George purposely came out of the cloud with lots of noise to distract from Charlie and Viktor with Ginny's prone form. When they saw the others leave the tent, George sliced an escape route in the wall while Hermione sent a few confringo charms at various objects, letting Fred guide her out backwards while she aimed. The entire tent was engulfed in flames by the time they had run far enough into the orchard to apparate out.

The three set to putting up every ward they knew on the flat above the joke shop as soon as they arrived, Hermione limping around the place on a broken heel several minutes longer while the twins wrote frantically in their journals. George was busy checking on everyone while Fred was writing everything Hermione was saying and doing to Harry, knowing they had a huge security risk without her, shaking his head the whole time. Whereas he agreed with not taking her along, her brains, and more so person, were too important to risk, he also knew that she had been the one spending the last two years preparing for this sort of situation and his brother and his friend were years behind her in spellwork and planning even before that. Hopefully they would be capable enough to take what he was able to offer.

"I think we're secure enough now," George called out to Hermione for the fourth time. She didn't seem to hear him, concentrating on her spellwork frantically while tears poured down her face. "Granger? Granger!" he shouted to her, but she continued on with her work.

"Hermione!" Fred grabbed her by the shoulders, stopping her before she started another circuit. "We're safe. You've layered the wards on at least a dozen times. You can sit down now. Or at least take off the broken shoes."

She looked at him with wide teary eyes for a moment before breaking down in broken sobs and hiccups. He sunk to the floor with her, pulling her into his arms as she cried, babbling about being left behind and how worried she was for Harry and Ron. When the babbling got incoherent and the sobs edged into hysterical, George joined them on her other side, wrapping his arms around them both. He kept telling her that everyone was ok and things were going to be alright until the violent sobs faded away. The two helped her to the couch, still crying silently, and George went to make them all some tea.

"Have we heard from everyone?" she asked in a quiet voice, still teary, but starting to gather herself together.

"Fleur says she, her parents, Bill, and her sister arrived at Shell Cottage fine. Viktor is with Mum, Dad, Charlie, and Ginny at Auntie Muriel's. Ginny woke up and will be fine aside from a twisted ankle. Luna says she and her dad are ok and home. Neville said he and his gran got out ok with a few guests, Tonks, Hagrid, and McGonagall. Remus is ok and checking in on Tonks' parents. Kingsley got out of the ministry right before it fell and is in hiding," George told her from the kitchen.

"Any word from Harry and Ron?" she asked and Fred frowned.

"Not yet. I was writing down all the wards you were doing to Harry while you were doing them, so they might still be working on that. They got out right away, so let's give them a bit to find a safe place before we start worrying," he told her.

"I'm going to see if I can reach them," she told him, getting up to grab her beaded bag and pulling her journal from it.

There were no messages from Harry or Ron, but she wrote them both telling them where she and everyone else was and that Grimmauld Place would be a good idea if they needed somewhere safe. There was only one person who had written to her - Snape. His correspondence had started much earlier in their secure section and told her more than either twin had been able to figure out about Harry.

_He's taking the Ministry tonight. Inform Kingsley if you can._

_The ministry has fallen. Kingsley has been spared. Anything else would have been suspect. They captured Weasley. The wedding will be next. Why make these things if you're not going to use them, you daft girl?_

_Potter was seen leaving without you - your cover will be safe._

_Potter and Weasley were traced in London. Welcoming party is en route. Why are they using their own wands?_

_I know you escaped the wedding. Are you safe?_

_**I'm safe. They have the other wands, but no common sense. Waiting to hear from them. Will pass the message. Is Percy going to be alright?**_

_Weasley was released before the attack on the wedding. He had no information but that to give, it seems. The Dark Lord is impressed with his dedication to the Ministry regardless of who is in power. Likes his ambition. He will be safe for now, barring any foolishness on his part. Potter and Weasley are no longer being traced. Welcoming party found obliviated. Badly. DL is furious. Expect more attacks on known suspects in the coming days._

_**Give them WWW. We will relocate tonight.**_

_Thank you._

Hermione closed her book, knowing the conversation was over, and looked at the twins.

"We need to move. Tonight."

"What? Why? With all your warding?" George asked, handing her a mug of tea.

"Yes. And we need to get everything we can out of the store room," she told him resolutely.

"You need to tell us why," Fred told her, holding up a hand when she started to protest. "No, this has gone on long enough. I know you weren't talking to Viktor, so don't say you were. Color coded, remember? But I don't have anyone who writes on green. Who's green, Hermione?"

"Can you promise me you'll stay calm? Both of you? And keep this an absolute secret?" she asked after a moment, chewing her lip.

"I can promise secrecy. Calmness? Not so much," George assured her, Fred nodding along.

"It's Snape. He's still spying for the Order," she told them simply, watching their jaws drop. "He's been trying to contact me since the afternoon about the Ministry, but I hadn't been keeping an eye on my journal. He managed to see to it that Kingsley was spared. Percy was interrogated, that's how they knew about the wedding. Harry and Ron were traced, but got away badly obliviating the people sent for them."

"Snape killed Dumbledore," George told her calmly, trying to keep up his end of the bargain.

"Dumbledore was dying. Snape was saving Malfoy from killing him and granting himself some security," she countered.

"HE KILLED DUMBLEDORE!" Fred roared, furious. "AND YOU'RE TRADING INFORMATION WITH HIM!"

"Remember Dumbledore's blackened hand? Ask Kingsley or McGonagall about it. He was already dying. Voldemort already killed him. Snape owed him a life debt. Dumbledore demanded he kill him when the time came," she explained back calmly.

"And you trust him?" George asked, fighting to remain calm as Fred was already on his feet pacing angrily.

"His story lines up with what I know happened from Harry and things I saw and overheard last year," she argued. "He saved your life, you know."

"By trying to kill me? I remember who sent that curse at me," George was edging into his anger now.

"By giving me the felix felicis that made sure you were lucky enough to avoid the curse. He was punished for aiming at a Harry instead of your father, you know, but knew I had given the Harrys felix felicis and you had a better chance of avoiding it," she told him, causing both to stare at her incredulously. "He told me how many death eaters would be waiting and that Mundungus Fletcher had been interrogated and gave up the plan right before the Order got to the Burrow to tell us we were going early. He had gotten the potion to me the day before. He can't get information if he's found to be a traitor. He can't sit on the sidelines entirely and didn't even know it was you. It could have been me or Harry himself for all he knew."

"And if it had been Harry and his potion didn't work, he'd have been brutally murdered, but took the shot at him instead of dad anyway," Fred spoke to the wall across the room from them having stopped his pacing after a few silent moments of thought. "I'll take it. I'm not happy about it, I'm not forgiving him for it, but I'll accept it as a calculated risk and a believable story."

"He could still be playing you," George piped in, his grim face agreeing with his twin.

"But I'm still getting intel from it," Hermione pointed out. "And help with the wolfsbane potion," she added sheepishly, earning a smirk from Fred.

"Knew it wasn't Krum."

"Next question before we let you off the hook for this," George cut in seriously. "Why do we have to move?"

"Because he managed to let both Kingsley and Percy be spared. I have to give him something, so I'm telling him where I am," she told him calmly before they both exploded, waiting until the shouting stopped before continuing. "The potions are already packed ready for transport, we have other locations we can go, and what better place to set up a trap than a joke shop? Hopefully we can take a few of them out without having to fight too much. Besides, you no poo? Come on, this place was already on the list and you know it."

"Juvenile, maybe, but I still think the pun was worth it," George decided after a moment of thought, acceding to her logic.

"Shall we show Lord Moldyshorts what a joke shop can do?" Fred asked with a grin that screamed excitement at the prospect of using their entire arsenal against a handful of death eaters despite personal losses.

"Brother mine, I've been dreaming of this day. And thanks to Hermione's questionable judgement, we have warning enough to make it spectacular," George agreed with an identical grin and a glint in his eye.

"Where to after?" Fred asked, looking to Hermione.

"Grimmauld Place," she answered immediately. "Snape told them McGonagall was the secret keeper initially, so they haven't tried to get the location from him."

"Convenient, that," George agreed, assigning Hermione to pack things for he and Fred while they booby trapped the shop.

Three hours later, they had changed out of their wedding attire and packed and secured everything they wanted to take as well as fully booby trapping the shop. They weren't concerned about Snape being found out by it because it seemed well enough in character for the twins to have done anyway. Their reputation preceded them and so really it should just be irritating, not unexpected, for intruders to be attacked by their products. About ten minutes after they settled in to wait, Hermione got a message in Snape's viewable section of her notebook.

_Are you alright, Miss Granger? I've heard you were spotted at an attack on the Burrow._

_**I'm fine. Fred and George managed to get me out and are giving me a place to stay for the remainder of my time in Britain. I trust you were able to come out unscathed, sir?**_

_I am fine, Miss Granger. What about Potter and Weasley? You're hardly seen without them._

_**They managed to escape as well without me - I saw them go. I have not heard from them since and am starting to worry. Once Fred and George are soundly asleep, I may sneak out to see if I can find them.**_

_That would be unwise. Stay where you are, Miss Granger. These are dangerous times for someone like you to be alone._

_**Of course, sir. If you think it's best.**_

_It is. Safety in numbers, Miss Granger._

_**Yes, sir. Thank you.**_

"They're sending a whole group," she told the two who had been on either side of her, reading Snape's correspondence.

"You've got a code worked out?" Fred asked, re-reading the exchange.

"Of sorts. When he writes in this section, it's often dictated by Moldyshorts. He's charged with wording it so it seems to be coming from him and adding assurances in to make me comfortable. Snape wouldn't say something silly like 'safety in numbers', so I'm taking it as warning. I'd guess at least six because he knows there are at least three of us here, so if we're being warned about numbers, they at least double ours."

"They're also watching us," George pointed out, re-reading again and looking for more clues. "So escaping to the street or through the floo is out. They'll put up anti-apparition wards, so how do we get out?"

"The roof," Fred told him, as George started nodding. Draw them into the traps, Escape to the roof. Get next door and get out."

"Sounds like a plan unless you'd rather fly," George agreed.

"I'm hopeless at flying and if they're watching us, they'll be able to follow us," Hermione pointed out. "The roof's the best option."

They had just agreed when they heard the first trap spring from downstairs. Screams started following the third trap, making Hermione believe there was probably more than six death eaters down there. She tried counting them from the sounds, but they were starting up the stairwell at that point, so she instead prepared to fight. Feigning fear and surprise as their slightly deconstructed wards fell, the three sprung to their feet to face...Bellatrix Lestrange. The fake fear turned icily real as the witch burst into the flat and Hermione quickly threw up a shield as all three went running for the fire escape outside Fred's window that would lead to the roof. Hearing the demented witch's cackling as she destroyed everything in her path was one of the most terrifying experiences of Hermione's life as the three managed to get next door and apparate to safety before anyone caught up to them. They were all too shaken to be bothered by the securities in the hall at Grimmauld Place and all three knew they'd have nightmares her voice shouting after her slicing curse after slicing curse offering to make the twins match once more.


	5. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR: GRIMMAULD PLACE AND A PARTING OF WAYS

"Merlin's underpants! Are you guys ok?" Ron exclaimed as he and Harry rushed into the library the three had taken refuge in.

"Right as rain," George breathed out heavily. "You Freddie?"

"Peachy keen," Fred agreed, also panting a bit. "Hermione?"

"Not so good," she admitted, her face white as she passed out from the loss of adrenaline and blood. Turns out Bellatrix managed to hit her shoulder as she was apparating.

Cussing vehemently, the twins burst into action as Harry and Ron stood there panic stricken. Fred took off his jacket and pressed it to the wound while George searched Hermione's bag for the blood replenishing potions and barked at Harry or Ron to write Viktor and ask what else to do.

Twenty minutes later, some hurried instructions from Victor, and a mad search for dittany later, Hermione was breathing steadily, no longer bleeding, and had regained color. Fred was preparing to carry her up to the room she had stayed in last time they were at the house to sleep it off and Harry was writing everyone to tell them she was ok when they heard someone stumbling in the front door.

After a quick round of questioning from George, who luckily was still on top of his game unlike his younger brother and Harry, Remus was confirmed as Remus and they helped the werewolf guide a worse-for-the-wear but confirmed Kingsley Shacklebolt down to the kitchen to see about taking care of him.

"You ok, Freddie?" George asked as the two returned to library to clean up.

"I will be. Helluva night, eh, Georgie?" he chuckled a bit before frowning at the large bloodstain on the couch, following the trail on the floor to the doorway with his eyes. "Funny how we didn't notice that. She was losing a lot of blood."

"To be fair, she didn't notice it at first either," George pointed out. "Don't go beating yourself up over it."

"Glad Ron showed up when he did. How long would it would have taken us to notice if we were stuck here in a stupor?" he asked, almost angry. "We just would've thought she fell asleep."

"We would've noticed when we checked," George assured him, pausing a moment. "You sure you're ok?"

"No," Fred answered honestly. "They attacked our family today, George. And then Hermione almost died to repay someone for saving our good for nothing brother that won't even acknowledge he's part of it."

"They're going to attack our family again before this is over. And Hermione too. Which part bothers you more?" he asked, sitting down on the newly cleaned couch.

"I don't know. I understand why all of us are being targeted. I don't understand her putting herself in danger for Percy. We can't let them kill her. Not for that git," he insisted. "Not for any of us."

"Then we won't. Besides, I've grown rather fond of having her around. Lacks our devilish charm, but she's dead clever and real creative when she wants to be," George pointed out, egging his brother on.

"Reckon we can keep to that? I know we're incredible, but keeping Moldyshorts' least favorite muggle born alive? Think we're up to the task?" Fred asked, grinning a little.

"Not if we've got to keep the other two alive," George mused aloud. "But she seems to have taken that one on herself, hasn't she? I saw we let her worry about those two and we worry on her. Then in the end, we'll have inadvertently saved the world by keeping Harry bleeding Potter alive."

"Very true, brother of mine. No one watches her back, she's always watching theirs. So we watch out for her and each other and Harry and our git of a brother get extra protection from the whole deal."

"Plus I'm sure she'll be real grateful if we save her life...again," George pointed out.

"Oh yeah, loads grateful."

"Probably would want to repay us somehow," he continued.

"At least one of us."

"Probably snog you half to death in the spirit of thanking you," George slipped in, testing the waters.

"Hopefully...what?" Fred snapped back to attention, sending George into gales of laughter.

"I knew it! You've been watching her too closely Freddie. Taking things too hard. Even she's noticed you asking about Krum too often! You fancy Granger!" George's laughter set a scowl on his twin's face.

"Do not."

"Do too! What about Ronnikins?"

"What about Ronnikins? If he wanted to make his move, he's had six years to do it," Fred reasoned.

"So you admit it? You fancy Granger?" George asked, smirking at his twin.

"Maybe a bit. Like you said, I've gotten used to having her around. Didn't really know her that well before these last couple weeks. Kinda like her being there. Ok, really like her being there. Especially when you aren't," he smirked back.

"You wound me, brother of mine. Here I thought you were always happy to have me around!"

"Usually, but maybe if you weren't around so much I could make some progress at this whole snogging business. Bet she's a natural. Like everything else in life," Fred mused aloud.

"And if she's not, you know she'll be willing to put in the extra study time," George pointed out with a laugh. "Which she might just do anyway. Gotta admit, there's a good side to an overachiever."

"We'll see, Georgie."

Things were awkward when Hermione woke up. Ron and Harry had chosen to leave her behind and all three of them knew it. They had also neglected to get in touch with her and weren't certain, but felt they were responsible for the attack that almost killed her and destroyed Ron's brothers' business. Kingsley had found a spare bed upstairs to rest in for a while while Remus had interrogated the two boys, trying to figure out their mission. Neither were cracking and a conversation with the twins concluded they had no idea what the trio was up to either. So Hermione awoke to Remus dozing in a chair by her bed, Fred and George napping across the hall, Kingsley sleeping a few rooms away, and Harry and Ron hiding out downstairs in the kitchen trying to decide what they were going to do about their situation in a house full of people and a rightfully angry Hermione.

"Have you been here all night, Remus?" she asked, turning to look at him as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

"What was left of it anyway. It's still early," he admitted, grinning at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a truck," she groaned, sitting up and favoring her still-healing shoulder.

"Fred and George said the cut went almost to the bone. Dittany does wonders, but I'm betting your muscle is still reknitting itself," he informed her, reaching out to stop her from rolling her shoulders. "I'd give it a day or two before trying to stretch it to be safe. Don't want it healing incorrectly in times like these."

"Thanks," she said, taking the sling he conjured for her and slipping it on. "You got stuck watching me, then? Are Harry and Ron still here?"

"I wouldn't say stuck. I wanted to speak with you anyway and when Fred started nodding off, I told him I could keep watch and to go get some rest. George has only been out a couple hours longer," he told her with another smile. "The two of them didn't want to leave your side. I think they feel a bit responsible. Harry and Ron haven't left the house, but I don't think that has anything to do with us. They seem at a bit of a loss as to where to go, but won't tell me anything about what they're doing so I can help."

"Clever, Remus, but I'm not falling for it," Hermione smiled at him now. "You're not coming. Hell, I don't know if I'm welcome to come anymore and Dumbledore told Harry to include me. They left without me on purpose, you know. They tried to do it once before and will probably try again."

"I wish you'd just tell me what you're up to," he sighed heavily, slouching in the chair.

"So you can follow us and leave behind your pregnant wife you haven't been to see all night after she was attacked at a wedding because you were checking on a fully capable auror and some kids that aren't yours?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It sounds awful when you phrase it like that," he accused.

"Because it is awful, Remus. Look, I get that you're scared about having a kid. You'd be crazy or stupid if you weren't, and I've never taken you for either. That's before your condition is factored in. Having kids is scary business, especially with the world how it is now. But you are having a kid and your wife needs you to be there to help her through it," she assured him. "You're a Gryffindor, Remus. You're brave enough for this. Being brave isn't not being scared. It's being scared and facing it head on anyway."

"You truly are the brightest witch of your age, Hermione," he commented not for the first time and probably not the last. "What if I promise not to come? We have the notebooks. I can help, you know I can. I may not have the time you do for research, but I've been doing it a great deal longer than you and was known for being quite the bookworm in my day. Surely there's something I can help with."

"I agree. I've been of the opinion to talk to you and Kingsley about this from the start. However, it's not my decision, it's Harry's. Dumbledore assigned it to him and heavily suggested he include myself and Ron," she sighed heavily. "Which Harry seems to take as Ron should be at his side and I should be locked away somewhere with books telling them what they should do next."

"You know, maybe that's not the worst idea," he pointed out, holding his hands up in surrender at her glare. "I'm just saying you'll get more work done in a safe, controlled environment rather than being on the move constantly looking over your shoulder trying to protect them. I agree that your spellwork beats theirs by miles, but Harry's the better dueller and Ron's your man for planning when he puts his mind to it. They're more fit than you as well. Perhaps you're better suited to be working somewhere else and communicating any findings to them. Aces in their places."

"With that logic it also makes more sense to include more people so we have more information coming in," she told him, staring off into thought for a moment. "I'll think about it. And talk to them about including you. But in the meantime, you need to check in on your wife."

"What about Kingsley?"

"We can keep an eye on him for the time being. When he feels up to it, I'm sure a fully trained auror can take care of himself better than some Hogwarts dropouts can."

"I forgot you've all dropped out now. Well, not you, technically. You tested out. Unless that was all a cover story?"

"No, it's all true. I sat the equivalent of my NEWTS and tested into a magical university that I was truly accepted to for the fall term. I may have been a bit vague about which fall term I was starting, though," she grinned back at him. "I really do hope to get there someday."

"I hope you do too, Hermione. You deserve it. Especially once this is all done."

"Say hello to Tonks for me."

"I will. I'm sure she sends her best. Take it easy - you lost a lot of blood," he warned as he left.

Hermione spent the next hour and a half staring into space while considering her position and analyzing the amulet flashes she witnessed while unconscious. She didn't want to be thrown from the game just yet, but there was merit to the idea that she could be more useful on the sidelines. She was trying to figure out a middle ground when Harry appeared in her doorway.

"You're awake."

"I'm awake."

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Well enough."

"Are you angry with me?"

"A bit," she sighed. "Come in, sit down, Harry. We've got to talk about this before you and Ron run off without me again."

"It wasn't quite like that…"

"It was exactly like that and you know it," she cut him off as he sat. "Remus wants to help."

"Remus can't help," Harry insisted, scowling.

"Yes he can and you know it as well as I do. I did manage to talk him out of following you, though," she offered and Harry grinned.

"So you're talking more passing information help than coming with us help."

"Yes I am. I think you should tell Remus and maybe Kingsley what you're looking for and see what they can scrounge up. They have better resources than we can hope for and Remus has been doing the research thing longer than I have and Kingsley has been tracking down people and artifacts as a professional auror for longer than you've been able to walk and talk," she pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"You've got a point there," Harry agreed sheepishly. "I don't want to involve the whole Order and I don't want you on the run with us. I need you where you can think and work without babysitting Ron and me."

"Then here are my conditions: Fred and George are in. I need back up too and they've lost their home. Plus, they see things differently than most people, which will be a help. Remus and Kingsley are in. We need them, their resources, and their contacts. I have somewhere the twins and I can go, and we will in a couple days when Kingsley and I are healed up, provided you and Ron stay here as long as possible. It's safe and more comfortable than the tent in your bag. If I let you go, you have to promise to include me in all planning and not run off on some hunch without telling me. For large scale, you get back up, no compromise on that one. The smoother things go the less likely you'll be figured out."

"Anything else?" he asked, nodding as he decided her demands were reasonable.

"Only that we figure out a place to keep any horcruxes you find until we are able to destroy them. From my research, I don't think we want anyone to be around them for extended periods of time," she had decided this a while ago, but still hadn't figured out where to keep them.

"You mean you don't want to hang out with Voldemort's soul fragments in your spare time?" Harry asked incredulously. "Ron always said you were mental."

"Loser," she laughed at him before getting back to the task at hand. "Are we in agreement?"

"Yes," he decided, shaking on it with her good arm. "I'll send word to Remus to join us for lunch tomorrow and we'll discuss everything with everyone then. I'll talk to Ron beforehand. And let him know you're safe to talk to. He's a bit frightened to show his face just yet, I think."

"As well he should be, abandoning her at the wedding like that, the git," Fred commented, walking into the room. "Good to see you up and laughing, Hermione."

"You too, Fred," she smiled back at him. "Where's George? I hear I have you two to thank for my recovery and for guarding me after."

"He went looking for food. Said something about bringing something up for the both of us too. Harry's out of luck," Fred blushed slightly at the mention of guarding her all night.

"I'll manage something on my own," Harry pretended to be extremely put out at this as he headed for the door. "Hey, Fred? Thanks for taking care of Hermione. She's better than a sister to me. I wouldn't have been able to cope had something more terrible happened to her," he told him, giving him a half hug as he passed and grinning back at Hermione as he left the room.

By supper the next evening, Kingsley had left after he, Remus, Fred, and George were brought up to speed. Neither Hermione nor the twins mentioned Snape and no one asked specifics about the attack in Diagon Alley. Remus and Kingsley were both horrified to learn what Dumbledore had tasked three teenagers who had not yet sat their NEWTS to do, but seemed eager to get on the case, taking copies of Hermione's notes as a starting point. It wasn't in anyone's interest to do the same research multiple times. Fred and George had already come up with a few ideas as to where and what horcruxes might be. Their years of pranking and devious behavior was certainly an attribute in the brainstorming department. Combining that with Remus' own past deviousness and Kingsley's professional training, the trio was feeling good about their decision to include the other three. It was decided that Hermione and the twins would head out the next day while Ron and Harry stayed in place trying to work out who R.A.B. was.

Meanwhile, Viktor had returned home to Bulgaria and was working to help the muggleborn and halfblood students that were becoming targets in his old school that had a history of intolerance of anything less than pure blood. Fleur had reported a meeting with Madame Maxine earlier that day in which they had come up with a contingency plan to evacuate the school with the portkeys from Australia should the need arise. Upon hearing about the offered assistance, Madame Maxine would also be encouraging her upper year students to seek admission to the Melbourne University of Magic and Sorcery with enthusiasm and had already invited scouts from the university to career planning sessions later in the term. Fleur was also using her influence to encourage students to at least take a look at the school. Oliver Wood had enrolled himself and was talking it up to other young players he knew in the quidditch league that had nothing to currently do with themselves. Melbourne was seeing a surprising number of Northern European quidditch players this autumn.


	6. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE: THE LOCKET AND ABANDONMENT

Hermione apparated the twins to an isolated house in the countryside. She quickly started setting every ward she could think of, the other two joining her once they got their equilibrium back. She had influenced her parents into selling their home, knowing death eaters would be less likely to look for them for a good long while if the move seemed permanent. She had not, however, let them sell her grandmother's home. It was in her mother's maiden name through entirely muggle records, so she doubted it would gather much, if any, attention from Voldemort's forces, who thought her in Canada by now thanks to a few notes to Snape, so as long as she put wards to make it invisible and such but not strong enough wards to gather attention, they should be perfectly safe. Fred and George had both agreed this was a brilliant plan after they got inside and she explained.

Within a few days, they had managed to set up a rather impressive potions lab in the basement and storage for the now mail-order only Weasley Wizarding Wheezes in the attic. The three of them had quickly settled in and found themselves in a routine of research, product development, and potion making. The only person in the Order who knew where they were was Remus because Hermione had taken up the task of making him wolfsbane every month and he insisted on getting it from her rather than risk her delivering it when she was supposed to be in Canada. Knowing this drove Molly crazy, but she had decided it was better _someone_ know where two of her children and a girl who was as good as a third were hiding out rather than none at all, so she let it rest best she was able.

A few weeks later, Hermione was shocked at how well she enjoyed living with the twins full time. Not that she didn't like them and hadn't enjoyed the days she spent with them before the wedding, but living with them all day every day wasn't something she had ever considered and found it surprising how enjoyable it was. Coming from a large family without a lot of space, both were fairly neat, especially for young men on their own, just out of habit. It also meant they could both cook and were willing to do so to make sure they were all eating well. George quickly became another adoptive brother to Hermione. She adored how fiercely protective he could be at the mere thought of things, but also the teasing she pretended to hate. Harry and Viktor were also protective, but neither were quite as willing to call her out for being bossy or tease her for things like her hair first thing in the morning without being in any way hurtful. Having multiple brothers was nice, she decided, not for the first time a bit jealous of Ginny.

Fred was something else, Hermione had decided. Sure, George flirt with her a little too, seeing as he was George and she wasn't actually his sister, but Fred's flirting was different. A little more serious. He looked at her differently too, smiled differently. And Hermione was certain she had caught him checking her out on more than one occasion. George's teasing made her laugh and slap him playfully. Fred's made her blush and stammer. Not in a bad way, though. She found herself purposefully putting herself in positions in which she knew she'd be teased and trying to find ways to be near him, alone preferably, without being obvious. She soon realized that it was plenty obvious to George, though, who would smirk at her when she did these things. Had she not been so embarrassed with herself, she would have noticed Fred getting the same smirk when he pulled similar moves.

Today, however, she was nervous. Today Harry and Ron were breaking into the Ministry of Magic to steal from Dolores Umbridge thanks to intel from Snape and some inside assistance from Kingsley and a couple other members of the Order who didn't know what they were doing past trying to get a necklace from Umbridge. Everyone but Harry and Ron had wanted to send in a team that did not include the two of them, but had acquiesced to their demand to be there due to fears of mutiny. She had been pacing all day and checking her journal obsessively, driving both twins to distraction, but they had given up on trying to calm her down hours ago.

Remus finally arrived, horcrux in tow, explaining that Harry and Ron had picked up a straggler in their escape, Grimmauld Place had been compromised, Ron had been splinched in escaping a second time, but now they were settled in the tent somewhere outside of Ottery St. Catchpole that Ron had taken them to and he was on the mend. Hermione just about collapsed on the couch in relief while George escorted Remus to a heavily warded garden shed out back they had decided to keep the horcruxes in until they figured out how to safely destroy them.

While they were gone, Fred sat down next to a trembling Hermione to comfort her. When he took her hand, she looked up at him, grabbed his face and kissed him square on the lips. After a moment of shock, Fred allowed himself to kiss her back. When they pulled up for air, Hermione opened her eyes and blushed furiously, apologizing. Fred laughed at her reaction, insisting she certainly didn't need to apologize for _that_ unless she didn't intend on ever trying again. Smiling back at him, she decided to give it another go now that she was more in control of herself, and that is how Remus and George first walked in on Fred and Hermione snogging.

Neville and Luna were writing horror stories from Hogwarts. The wizarding world outside of the protective bubbles people were warding themselves into was similar. Christmas was approaching, but no one outside of Hogwarts seemed to notice or care. The students that were at this point starting to hide in the Room of Requirement were counting down the days and trying to plan a way to get to the Hogsmeade station to get home without detection. Fred and George spent most of their time trying to find ways to get their products to Ginny knowing she was devious enough to make them work to her advantage. Hermione had passed off the task of trying to locate the next horcrux to Remus and Kingsley and was focusing entirely on trying to destroy the one they already had. Tonks was due any day and feeling the strain of her pregnancy. Remus was almost buckling under the pressure, especially after death eaters located her parents' home and attacked, sending the couple, Andromeda, and Ted Tonks on the run.

Molly and Arthur took in Tonks at Auntie Muriel's to try and help, but Remus was staying with Hermione and the twins. It was hard on the couple to be apart at a time like this, but Muriel wouldn't allow Remus to stay in her home and Tonks needed to be with people that could help her when her time came. Both Viktor and Charlie had offered to take the couple in, but no one could figure out how to safely get the heavily pregnant auror out of the country. Even Tonks was starting to regret her stubbornness in refusing to leave her family and friends to the fight months ago when it had originally been suggested and travel would have been easier on her. It was decided that she would join her husband once their child was born, taking a huge strain off Molly and Arthur as well.

The notes from Ron were becoming non-existent. Harry had taken to writing longer notes than was typical for him, usually late at night when he was on watch and Ron slept. Hermione's heart went out to her friends. She knew Ron, who had had a relatively easy life thus far despite lack of money, was not suited to living on the run, and was wearing down quickly. Harry was less affected by the hard conditions and lack of food, but the wavering faith and support from Ron were taking their toll, as was the ginger boy's perpetual foul mood. Hope started to wane for Harry as his letters became increasingly despondent. After over a week without having heard from Ron, Hermione woke up to see a note from Harry containing one sentence that simply said Ron had left.

A few hours later, a note from Fleur confirmed this. Ron was at Shell Cottage eating his way through their kitchen and generally being a burden. He was more grateful and thankful than he had ever been in his life for someone's hospitality, but was using that to take advantage of his situation. He wouldn't tell her or Bill what had happened, what he and Harry had been up to, or where Harry was, so it was left to Hermione to comfort the worried half-veela. Despite her confidence when speaking to Fleur, Hermione was just as worried herself. The plan was never for Harry to have to face this alone and his insistence that she remain in a safe, secret location had left him that way. She insisted that he write her every time he wasn't moving. Due to his loneliness and her being his only spot of support at this point, Harry happily obliged and Hermione spent every moment she wasn't researching or sleeping writing back and forth to Harry to keep him company. She had given up begging for his location so that she could meet him and bring him back with her, but he refused, claiming it was too dangerous.

Fred, who had up until this point managed to keep her in good spirits, was no longer able to keep the dark clouds away from his new girlfriend. This caused tension of it's own as he became increasingly frustrated and even a little jealous of the way she obsessively dived into her work when not scrawling hasty notes to Harry or Snape, of all people, without making time for him. George tried to keep his brother's spirits up, but was also trying to keep Remus from cracking under pressure and could only accomplish so much with so many downtrodden people in the house and his own worries to boot. A note from Kingsley had brought the two a much needed respite as they joined their friend Lee Jordan in randomly selected locations to being _Potter Watch_, an illegal radio show of Lee's invention. Hermione worried for them, but listened as obsessively as she worked, making sure Harry tuned in as well, glad for the brief respite the lighthearted show brought.

Three days before Christmas Luna's disjointed commentary disappeared. Once he was in a safe location, Neville confirmed to everyone that she had been kidnapped by death eaters from the train home from Hogwarts. Christmas was definitely off this year. Snape seemed to have a bit of a lead on how to destroy the horcruxes, having finally guessed and confirmed their mission through Dumbledore's portrait, and was trying to find a way to get the real sword of Gryffindor to Hermione without arousing suspicion. He also sent along warnings to watch out for Xenophilius Lovegood, who had been contacted and threatened by the death eaters and was desperate to get his daughter back. Hermione made sure the warning was passed around, especially to Arthur and Molly who might get it in their head to check in on their neighbor. As awful as they felt for him, they couldn't risk anyone being tortured or killed on the off chance he might see his daughter again. A desperate man of questionable sanity was especially dangerous in times like these.


	7. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX: CHRISTMAS AND SETTLING IN

On Christmas Eve, Hermione was taking a break from her research and notes to string popcorn with the twins. Remus was MIA because Muriel found some Christmas cheer in her withered old heart and allowed him to spend the evening with his wife. They had used magic on a small evergreen shrub from the garden to make themselves a suitable Christmas tree and were working on decorating it with bits of this and that they had found throughout the house, not daring to go shopping for decorations. Hermione had apparated to the other side of the country with a portable polyjuice lozenge and muggle money to shop for a suitable Christmas dinner for the next night and had homemade cinnamon rolls rising in the refrigerator for breakfast. George was currently trying to create a star for their tree while Fred was in the kitchen putting together something for that night's supper when Hermione saw she had received a note from Harry.

_In Godric's Hollow. Using the PP. Can you come? It's Christmas._

_**Of course I'm coming, Harry. Where should I meet you?**_

_The cemetery._

_**Let me grab my coat.**_

Hermione looked up at George as she tied her shoes and reached for her coat. He sighed heavily, but nodded. Fred walked in as she was buttoning her coat with one hand and reaching for her scarf and hat with the other. His face took on a grim look, but he nodded as well, pulling her close for a moment before kissing her gently.

"I'm going to try and get back quickly," she told them both from the doorway, surprising them. "Harry told me where he is. I'm going to bring him back."

"Where is he?" Fred asked curiously.

"Godric's Hollow. The cemetery," Hermione looked as grim as he had a few moments earlier. Both twins winced.

"Talk about punishing yourself - abandoned and alone visiting your parents' graves for the first time on Christmas Eve?" George whistled low to himself. "Bring him back safe, Hermione. Take the book. You never know if something might happen."

"If we don't hear from you in an hour, I'm coming after you," Fred told her as she pocketed her journal and head outside. "I'm completely serious about this. Be careful."

"I always am."

"Stay safe, Granger. If you've got a spare hand, see what you can do about Potter as well," George joked from behind his brother in the doorway. Hermione grinned at them, waving goodbye as she stepped out of the wards and apparated to Godric's Hollow.

"Thank you," Harry said as she approached and placed flowers on his parents' graves.

"It's the very least I could do," she insisted, kneeling down beside him and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Will you come back with me?"

"Yeah. I'm not getting anything done on my own out here," he finally gave in.

"We've got the makings for a proper Christmas supper tomorrow," she promised, trying to cheer him up a bit. "Fred and George will be there and maybe Remus if Muriel kicks him out."

"No one else?"

"No one else knows where we are," she told him, both purposely avoiding Ron's name.

"It'll be nice to see the twins," Harry decided, standing up and lending her a hand to pull her up as well, both brushing snow from their knees. "You were right, you know. I shouldn't have tried to to do this on my own."

"You had to try," she conceded, giving him a small grin. "But it will be really good to have you home. It's great with the twins and Remus, but I miss you."

"I miss you too, Hermione," he admitted as they left the cemetery. Both stopped dead as they saw the figure standing in the street waiting for them. Hermione cursed vehemently inside her head, knowing she should have insisted they apparate out from the far side of the cemetery, not the town side. "Hello?" Harry asked and the figure beckoned him to follow.

"Harry, we really shouldn't follow. Let's just go, yeah?" Hermione tried to argue. Predictably, Harry was insistent and stubborn. She did manage to drag the argument out a good five minutes though, suddenly very aware that should anything bad happen, she had back up coming in less than forty-five minutes like it or not. So Hermione made a point to drag her feet and make sure Harry stopped following the old woman for a few minutes to look at the memorial his childhood home had become.

Hermione glanced at her watch as they followed the old woman into her home. If Fred waited the entire hour, she still had over twenty-five minutes left. She was betting he'd be there within ten, having used up all his patience and hoped he brought George with him. She paused as she entered the home, carving a quick rune on the door with her wand that glowed subtly in the moonlight. The twins had been reading _The Hobbit_ recently in their free time, surely they'd understand her mark. She cast a quick charm to draw attention to her mark as she shut the door behind her, just in case.

Nothing about this house, the old woman, or being there felt right to Hermione. She tried telling Harry, but he didn't seem to care as the old woman beckoned him upstairs. It was like a bad fairy tale. Hermione set snooping around a bit, discovering that they were in the home of Bathilda Bagshot. In the distance she heard the faint sound of two people apparating. Upstairs she heard a tremendous crash. Praying it was the people she wanted apparating in, she hurried up the stairs to encounter Harry fighting an enormous snake. Eyes widening, she realized it was Voldemort's snake and horcrux and that there would be no way for them to defeat it, they could only hope to escape.

The snake seemed distracted by her sudden appearance and reared back to attack. Thinking quickly, Hermione summoned a wooden chair between the two, saving her from the teeth and diving around the snake to where Harry was as it splintered the old furniture. Hermione blasted a hole in the wall behind Harry, shoving him straight out before turning to the snake again, who was rearing back for another go. Sending another blasting curse back at the snake with everything she had, she backed out the hole in the wall herself, grateful when she was caught by strong and familiar smelling arms.

"Let's get out of here, Gred," George demanded, restraining an angry Harry somewhere behind Hermione.

"With you on that, Forge," Fred agreed as the sound of multiple apparitions signaled the arrival of death eaters.

"Secondary location, boys!" Hermione gasped out, watching the two nod as they side-along apparated her and Harry out of Godric's Hollow. "Why would you choose your shop?" she demanded as a caterwauling charm went off. "Must I do everything myself?" she grabbed George, who still had hold of Harry, from her position in Fred's arms and apparated the four of them to the forest of dean.

"Set up the wards," Fred directed Harry as soon as everything stopped spinning.

"You got a tent somewhere, yeah, Potter?" George asked, stopping Harry from setting up the wards to do so himself and redirecting him to set up shelter. "Hermione needs a bit of a lie down, I think."

"Yeah, let me just get it put up," Harry told him, scurrying to comply while George started casting the wards.

"You ok, Hermione?" Fred asked, noticing he was still mostly holding her up.

"I'll be fine in a bit. I just put as much of my magic as I was able into that last curse and then apparating four of us on a whim? Takes a lot out of you," she sighed, walking into the tent Harry had gotten up ridiculously quickly. "Don't suppose you've got any chocolate?" she asked as she went to lie down in a random bunk.

"No, fresh out. I've still got a few pepper up potions if you'd like," he offered, digging in his backpack.

"Maybe just a sip or two. Enough to get us home again," she agreed as he looked. "Were you hurt?"

"Felt like my head was going to explode, but I seem ok now," he told her, patting down his front as if to prove his health.

"You've got some glass and blood in your back, Potter," George told him, taking a seat at the table and pulling out his notebook to check in with everyone. "Didn't get there in time to catch you. Course, if I had my way, Freddie here'd be the faster one and I'd have had the lighter, prettier catch to make."

"Oi! That's _my_ girl you're talking about there, brother of mine!" Fred insisted, stopping behind Harry to look his back over. "You'll be ok, Potter. Let me just get this glass out. You'll be alright until we get home. We've got a salve there that'll heal this right up."

"Your girl, Fred? Have I missed that much?" Harry asked, looking over to Hermione's blushing form.

"Just a bit there, eh, Potter? Life in the wilderness can do that to you," Fred told him with a wink, finishing with the glass and pulling the back of his shirt down again. "How're things, Georgie? Any retaliation? Everyone else ok?"

"Things are good. We about ready to pack it in?" George told him, closing the journal and looking to Hermione. "Think you can manage?"

"Of course I can manage. I just don't fancy the wind and snow now that I've just warmed up," she insisted, scowling at the howling of the wind outside the tent. Honestly, both she and the twins knew they'd only be there a few minutes, but the weather just kept getting worse by the minute and the idea of even few of them without shelter wasn't pleasant.

Harry was pleasantly surprised at the house George side-along apparated him to as soon as he stepped through the wards. After his own time hiding in Grimmauld Place followed by a few months on the run in a tent smelling of cat pee, he had expected a small, run down shack in the middle of nowhere as Hermione's hide out. He, of course, should have known better, and eagerly awaited the point in the tour when he was left to his own devices to shower in the bathroom he would be sharing with Remus. After his shower, he walked through one of the three doors in the bathroom to his _own_ bedroom, at least until they took in more people. With Harry joining them, Fred had given up the room he had been using and was bunking up with George in the four bedroom house. When Tonks had given birth and came to join them with the baby, Remus would give up his room to Hermione, who would give up the master suite to the new family. Over dinner, Harry learned that Hermione had been trying to switch rooms in preparation since he had come to stay with them, but Remus refused to deny her the master suite in the house she owned until circumstances took away his protests.

Remus was overjoyed to see Harry when he arrived back a few hours after the four young adults ate. He had been particularly worried for him since Ron had abandoned the quest, but no longer insisted he take Ron's place, having come to terms with the idea of having a family of his own and being there for him. Despite notes from both of them that evening, Ron still hadn't replied in the journals and Fleur had told Hermione a few days ago that he had finally left and joined his family at his Aunt Muriel's. The five housemates had a lengthy conversation about the youngest Weasley son and decided that they should count him out for the rest of their journey, however long and trying it may prove to be. The other four had also talked Harry into staying with them and using the hidden muggle home as a base of operations.

Christmas morning blew in with the worst weather they had witnessed yet, leaving Harry beyond happy that he had finally reached out to Hermione and wouldn't be spending the day alone in the tent or worse yet - dead in a tiny house in Godric's Hollow. He was first up, out of habit of being alone on the run, and took over baking the cinnamon rolls Hermione had left to rise overnight. Fixing a full breakfast with tea, coffee, and orange juice past that, he greeted his savoirs with a warm smile as they entered the kitchen one by one, drawn by the enticing smells. After a large breakfast, they all congregated in the great room beside a roaring fire, pieced together Christmas tree, and an ancient television that Hermione had managed to dig out an equally ancient VHS player and a few movies for, apologizing that the warding made picking up a signal for the television impossible. Though they didn't have presents to exchange, the four Hogwarts drop outs spent the day watching old movies while sipping hot cocoa between getting supper started. Remus had behaved well enough to be invited back to Muriel's to see his wife for the holiday.

Boxing Day was unlike any other Harry had ever witnessed. Remus had arrived back late the night before laden with enough food, cookies, cakes, and fudge for an army from a worried Molly Weasley, who was thrilled Harry was accounted for. He also had Weasley Christmas sweaters for everyone, including himself, and seemed rather touched by the gesture, refusing to take it off for anything or anyone. Ginny sent long notes for everyone, telling them all that has happened and how much she missed them, as well as a small vial of blood for Hermione to key her into a notebook she had procured for the young witch. Hermione left the house that day only under the influence of a portable polyjuice lozenge to send the journal by muggle post to Bill and Fleur, who would get it to Ginny before she returned to Hogwarts. Remus had confirmed Ron was at Muriel's, but hadn't really spoken to him - it seems the boy avoided him the whole two days he had spent there.

Hermione, Fred, and George grimaced a little at his description of Ron's behavior, but immediately put themselves back to work after a quick breakfast from the large pot of oatmeal George had prepared for them all. Harry spent the first couple hours wandering from room to room refilling cups of coffee and tea as necessary. Fred was in the basement, working on his WWW products, George had brought in Lee Jordan and the two of them were in the twins' room working on what was to be covered in that night's planned Potter Watch, Remus and Hermione were holed up in the dining room turned library, the whole table covered with books and parchment, trying to figure out the next horcrux. He felt no small amount of guilt, seeing his friends he considered family so diligently working to help him.

"Already my turn for another cuppa?" Fred asked as Harry walked in with two steaming mugs. "Just barely finished the last. Someone kick you out, then?"

"Nah, just skipped Remus and Hermione. They are right next to the kitchen, after all," Harry told him, handing him the tea and sitting down on an empty stool across the workbench from Fred, who sat down from his work a moment as well.

"And the most likely to forget to take a break," Fred mentioned, snickering into his tea a bit.

"Is it like this every day?" Harry asked, the guilt clear on his face.

"Yep. Was the day we got you too, you just wrote in after we had talked Hermione into calling it a day. Yesterday was Christmas, so we took a break. Took almost a month to talk her into it, but we finally convinced her that one day to recharge wouldn't hurt the mission," Fred told him jovially. "Honestly, this is fantastic for George and I. We're getting loads done. Never had the opportunity to just work on our products all day. There was always school, hiding from Mum, running a shop, stuff like that. We can't do much in the way of marketing right now, but once this is over, we'll be able to have a whole new product offering to kick off the grand re-opening."

"I'm glad for that, at least," Harry told him sincerely, with a smile. "Is she doing ok? I know you're close now."

"Some days are better than others. Ron leaving you hit her hard. She blamed herself, for Merlin knows what reason. She works like it's a week from finals until we make her stop to eat or rest. Luckily, I'm particularly talented in talking her into a break," Fred commented cheekily with a wink.

"I'm glad you're taking care of her. It means the world to me that she's safe and at least somewhat happy. Makes it all easier to go through, a bit more worthwhile, you know," Harry looked morose again.

"Is this going to turn into a 'you hurt my sister, I hurt you' conversation, Potter?"

"Maybe…"

"As funny as that would be, let's just skip it and I'll skip the one we should be having about Ginny. We're both guys with sisters we want to protect and so will treat the girls we're with like we'd want our sister treated, yeah?"

"Sounds good to me," Harry agreed, relieved. "I really wasn't sure how to go about threatening you or how wise of an idea that was."

"Likewise. I mean, you're Harry bloody Potter. You're supposed to save the world and me, some prankster who owns a joke shop, is supposed to intimidate you properly?" Fred laughed a bit. "I like agreeing to keep in mind how we want our sisters treated better."

"I really am happy you two have found happiness with each other, especially with things as they are. You make her smile and laugh. Ron only made her scowl and cry," Harry told him, causing Fred to beam with pride.

"I do my best. Say, how would you like to learn a bit about the business you invested in?" Fred asked, taking Harry under his wing and showing him how to make the portable polyjuice they were constantly running out of. Fred was grateful for the help and Harry was thrilled to have something productive to do that didn't include reading ancient manuscripts with fine print. Plus Fred was a much better teacher at potions than Snape had been, helping and encouraging instead of demeaning and breathing down his neck.


	8. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN: NEW PLANS AND A TURN FOR THE WORSE

"Dean Thomas is dead," Lee told them soberly as they were eating for dinner. "We're going to announce it tonight. So's Ted Tonks."

"I gave Dean a portkey," Hermione told him, confused.

"Suppose he tried to stick it out and save it for an emergency," George commented, eyeing Remus, who had stopped eating at the news of his father in law.

"Sorry to bring everyone down, but I thought you'd like to know before we announced it to everyone," Lee apologized, poking at the stew from Molly that Harry had heated up for everyone.

"Thank you, Lee," Remus told him, resolutely picking up his fork again while Hermione just stared at her plate and Harry stabbed angrily at a potato.

"Any breakthroughs today?" Harry asked, trying to refocus himself.

"I think we should be considering other death eaters," Hermione told him listly, still staring at her stew. "Malfoy had the diary. Maybe he wasn't the only one entrusted with an item."

"Most of the belongings of the death eaters killed or captured in the last war were seized by the Ministry, so they would all have them back now," Remus continued. "It makes sense why taking over the Ministry would have been a priority for him instead of just influencing it."

"Where would they hide them, though? Surely no Slytherin pureblood supremacist would display something of Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw in their ancestral home," Harry reasoned.

"You never know," Lee countered. "It may not be of their favorite founder, but a founder's object would be something to be proud of none the less."

"Or they put it in Gringotts," George piped in. "If I had to store something valuable I didn't want anyone to know about, I'd put it there."

"Is there any way we could check?" Harry asked thoughtfully, looking to Hermione, who seemed to be coming out of her daze.

"Not us personally, I don't think, but the goblins could. Both Bill and Fleur work for them. Maybe they can set up a meeting. We'd have to explain what we were looking for and why, but perhaps we could make a deal with them. The goblins aren't making out too well in this war, maybe we could find a way to make helping us look like a benefit to them and their business?" she wondered aloud.

"Could work. I'll talk to Bill tomorrow, see if he can set something up. None of you should be out and about," Remus told him, nodding with Harry at Hermione's musings.

Harry helped Hermione clean up dinner while the other four head out to their predetermined secret location to air Potter Watch. He told her about helping Fred and she told him where they were with their research until it was time to settle down and listen to the radio show. He couldn't help but feel that things were a little tense due to the unspoken Ron issue. Hermione seemed to have given up on him entirely, but Harry wasn't ready to yet. He did, however, understand her need to keep moving on with their mission regardless of what happened and who died.

The meeting with the goblins was extremely beneficial. Due to a clause in their vault agreements the humans hadn't be aware of, the goblins did hold the right to search any and all vaults without warning at any time for objects that could harm others or the bank, which they decided the horcruxes fell under. Any such items were to be seized and disposed of at the goblin nation's discretion. With a wicked smile, the London bank manager set his teams into a search and seizure of all vaults in question, with the promise that any horcruxes found would be destroyed. When they turned over the locket, asking if they could destroy that as well, the goblin had agreed to inform them of what items were seized as well, taking the goblin-made item with relish. Though pleased with the end results, all involved resolved to _never_ mess with the goblins. All that would be required of them was for Harry to note publically how much of a help the goblin nation was in the fight against Voldemort once they triumphed and encourage the entire magical world to look to them for all the services they offered.

Though they didn't usually aim for publicity - everyone knew what the goblins were capable of anyway - but war had taken it's toll on the business and they were willing to employ any means available to them to increase the flow of gold into their walls. The friendship of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger would ensure patronage from those that didn't usually use their services - muggleborns. The goblins didn't particularly care how much gold you had or what kind of blood flowed through your veins so long as they made the profit and thus jumped at the opportunity to appear in a positive light to a new market, knowing they'd reclaim a few goblin-made items that were past-due in their minds in the process.

One thing no one had mentioned to Harry and he must have missed while listening to Potterwatch was the taboo on Voldemort's name. Which is how he, Viktor Krum, and Hermione found themselves in Malfoy Manor one unusually balmy afternoon in late February. Remus had been allowed to Muriel's because Tonks had gone into premature labor that morning and the twins were still MIA from the previous night's Potter Watch that had ended early due to their wards being dismantled and were currently hiding out somewhere with Lee Jordan. Though the notebooks, Harry and Hermione knew that Lee would be returning with them permanently once it was safe for them to try and return and Katie Bell had used Alicia Spinnett portkey, joining her former teammate Oliver Wood in Australia once the death eaters had arrived. Alicia hadn't made it, falling to Dolohov in the attack, who seemed to have a thing for horrendously maiming young girls. Kingsley told them they wouldn't have been able to identify what was left of her past a lingering magical signature save already having been told that's who it was.

Having no other options and already set up the mission with Snape, who could almost never get away from Hogwarts at this point, Hermione had called in help from Viktor, knowing he'd immediately jump at a chance to be at the front lines and would be a huge help backing up her and Harry. After an incident in which he almost drowned, but was able to retrieve the sword of Gryffindor from a remote lake, Harry had started loudly cursing his fate in life before Hermione was able to ask if Viktor, who had almost single handedly saved Harry's life, wanted to join their merry little band.

As soon as he used the dark lord's name, all of their protective wards fell and death eaters and snatchers alike were on them within seconds. Hermione tripped and screamed at Harry to keep running, pressing the tin of portable polyjuice into his hands and she popped another into her mouth. Popping one himself and tossing the tin to Viktor as he was tackled, he felt himself change before the snatchers could turn him over and see his face. Knowing they'd have seen the change in his hair and skin color, Harry swallowed the lozenge whole before he was made to spit it out.

After some fake names were given (Viktor had been stunned moments after swallowing his own lozenge), the three were transported to Malfoy Manor for proper identification. Bellatrix Lestrange greeted them, furious at first at the obviously fake names, and then further enraged by the sword of Gryffindor. Calling forth her nephew due to the ages of those captured, she was only made angrier when Draco honestly couldn't tell her who was in front of him. Catching his eye, Hermione was almost certain she saw the sudden dawn of recognition, but his initial answer had been honest, he wasn't asked again, and he didn't willingly offer up any names once he realized who was disguised. Because of the sword, Bellatrix decided to imprison and question them before killing them and sent the two boys (one still unconscious) to the dungeons, keeping Hermione with her for questioning first figuring the female being protected by two males would break easiest.

Hermione finally screamed out that the sword was a fake after her third bout of the crutiatus curse. Luckily enough for her, it was enough to make Bellatrix pause long enough to have an imprisoned goblin brought to her. Harry, in the meantime, was working his damndest to figure out a way out of the manor, after saving Hermione of course, while Luna and Ollivander, also in the dungeons, filled Viktor in on everything they knew. Luna was making a comment about how they rarely saw their captors and that their meals were brought by house elves and how upset Hermione would be about that when the solution appeared to Harry, who called Dobby.

Griphook confirmed the sword to be a fake, eyeing Hermione oddly, and was taken away again, leaving Hermione to be tortured for the gall of creating a fake. She screamed bloody murder as the woman cut into her arm with a cursed blade, hoping beyond hope that maybe Snape would pay a visit and find her here. She knew no one else willing and able to help would be within earshot no matter how loudly she screamed and that Snape would be able to do very little, but that very little could prove enough. Plus, it hurt and she was more terrified than she had ever been in her life. Between the carving and torture curse, she knew she had to focus on something to keep from losing her mind like Neville's parents' had, so she focused on putting all the pain and terror she was experiencing into every scream. At one point, she caught Draco's eyes again and she knew from that one glance that he would hear her screams in his worst nightmares the rest of his life. Good. Let him. Let all the Malfoys live with a nocturnal reminder of what their actions brought upon other people.

Bellatrix's maniacal laughter stopped abruptly when the doors to the ballroom burst open, Harry, Viktor, and Luna standing there. Dobby was currently transporting Ollivander and Griphook to Shell Cottage at Harry's insistence. Things got extremely confused for Hermione at that point until she was on the still frozen earth in the countryside facing the manor between Draco and Harry. They were arguing. When she asked what was going on, Draco shoved a wand into Harry's hand.

"Disarm me, hit me with something, stun me. You have that Black elf, yeah?" he asked, Harry confirming it. "You had two elves helping you. I grabbed on last minute. The elf left us here, right outside the wards, per your instructions, to fend for yourself like the angry little bugger it is. You managed to get in a couple good hits in the confusion, disarmed me, and then stunned me with the wand you got off my mother. You took Granger and got the hell out of here while I was out. I'll be suitably angry and worse for the wear when they find me," Draco told him, looking to Hermione mournfully.

"What's the catch?" Harry asked wearily.

"My mother. She's unmarked and never wanted anything to do with any of this. I was as big of a fool as my father, I see that now, but I've made my choices and have to accept my consequences. Hers were made for her. She's willingly turning over her wand to you so you can both be armed. When this is done, please see that she doesn't suffer needlessly for the choices the idiot men in her life made," he told him and Hermione could see how sincere he was about it, even through the haze of pain and delirium she was in.

"I may have judged you wrong, Malfoy," Harry offered, nodding at his request.

"No, you didn't. I was the one who judged everything and everyone wrong. I'll get what's coming to me for it too," he told Harry, bitter, but accepting his fate for the first time in his life.

Nodding again, Harry hit him square in the jaw. After a couple more hits, a disarming, and a boil curse, Harry stunned the Malfoy heir and summoned Dobby to take both he and Hermione to Shell Cottage, but Dobby didn't arrive. When he heard people start coming, he grabbed Hermione and apparated her to a place he's never been best he could, knowing it would hurt immensely in her state. Luckily enough, she passed out from the pain upon arriving and Harry caught her, gently easing them both to the ground as Fleur and Bill Weasley came running from the cottage in the near distance.


	9. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT: BATTLE OF HOGWARTS

"What happened?" she asked when she awoke in an unfamiliar bed with the smell of the ocean on the air. The breeze coming in from the open window was also quite a bit warmer than she thought it should be for this time of year.

"Harry appeared just outside our wards with you. His elf was pierced with a cursed blade while bringing Luna and Viktor. You've been out for two days, everyone has been very worried for you," Fleur's accented voice came softly from her right. Hermione turned her head to see the beautiful witch sitting there, looking both worried and relieved.

"So that's why it's so warm. We're in southern France," Hermione mused aloud, smiling a little. "Always wanted to come here on holiday."

"Perhaps you can once again for a real holiday once this is all over," Fleur offered with a smile. "We'd love to have you. Let me get you some water and something light to eat. I'm sure you're hungry and Fred will be overjoyed to hear you're awake."

"Fred's here?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes. He, George, and their friend Lee arrived a few hours after you did when I told them you were here and injured, but alive. Lee and George have returned to England, but Fred, Harry, and Luna are still here. I believe he is napping just now, he was with you all night in case you woke. I'll let him know you have - he wanted to be woken in an hour or so anyway," she told the younger witch with a kind smile before standing and leaving.

Once Hermione had greeted everyone and eaten, Bill had entered the room with a sealed scroll from Gringotts to ask what they needed and what they planned on doing. Knowing they still had much to accomplish, it was agreed that Hermione and Fred would stay with them until she was fit to travel back to England. Luna would go back to the safe house with Harry to continue on with Hermione's work. Ollivander would stay indefinitely, especially seeing as he was still recovering, and Griphook would return to Gringotts with Bill the next day. Gringotts had found Hufflepuff's cup and removed the horcrux from it. They had even gone so far as to reimburse the loss to the Lestrange vault after an appraisal so their ledgers wouldn't note a discrepancy in value.

After a quick conversation with the goblin and the assurances from Hermione that they could manage without the sword they had fought so hard to obtain, it was agreed that they would return the goblin to his brethren with the sword as a token of goodwill and thanks from the group for all the help they had received from the goblin nation, requesting that perhaps Gringotts would put the founders objects on display at some point in the future so everyone would be able to see the artifacts, which could also benefit them financially. Thinking on this, Griphook assured them he would speak to his superiors about it. A day later, they were offered a legion of battle goblins should things come down to all out war provided they hand over whatever relic of Ravenclaw they found to be de-possessed, thus giving Gringotts a full set of artifacts. They were all feeling very fortunate with the success in dealing with the goblins and the goblins were feeling justified in their investment in Harry's cause.

People were shuffled up in the house. Harry was sharing a room with Viktor. Fred, George, and Lee were in the largest bedroom. Hermione and Luna had bunked up in actual bunk beds partially because of space and partially because of Luna's keen interest in getting to sleep in one at some point in her life. Tonks had given birth while Hermione was recovering at Shell Cottage, so she, Remus, and their newborn Teddy were in the master suite. Tonks was saddened at not having her parents or a home of her own, but extremely grateful to be in a house surrounded by people only too willing to help her find herself as a mother and watch Teddy long enough for her to do practical things like eat, shower, and sleep, taking a lot of stress off.

Luna and Viktor took Hermione and Remus' places researching while Fred, George, Lee, and Harry mostly trained or worked on WWW products. Remus still did some of the research, but was finding being a new dad extremely time consuming. Hermione didn't yet have the energy for her usual amount of work, but chipped in some when she wasn't obsessively writing Snape in hopes of him finding Ravenclaw's diadem. Despite her instructions, he couldn't seem to find the room of requirement. Several days of failures later, she found out that the room was already in use by a good portion of the non-Slytherin student body. After much debate with herself, she wrote Neville, filling him in, and asking that he see if the room would just give up the diadem. It did. This is where Snape proved helpful once more, using his Slytherin cunning into helping Hermione come up with a plan to get him the diadem without Neville knowing he was giving it to Snape.

By the time summer was looming, Hermione was fully recovered and Snape had managed to procure the diadem and turn it over to the goblins, who almost actually smiled upon receiving it. Hermione had announced that the diadem had been found and turned over to the goblins at breakfast, cheers and smiles going all around. Before dinner, however, while they were all sitting in the garden chatting happily and enjoying the warmer weather to take a break in celebration before trying to figure out the last horcrux and how to kill Nagini, Harry seemed to have a fit. When he came to, he told them that Voldemort knew they had destroyed the horcruxes somehow and was heading to Hogwarts to check on the diadem and Snape.

Everyone burst into business mode, preparing for battle and sending notes out to everyone to get to Hogwarts. Hermione asked Neville if he had any ideas on getting in, so he told her to apparate to the Hogshead in Hogsmeade, that Aberforth Dumbledore owned the pub and would be expecting them. Not questioning him any further, everyone but Tonks and Teddy finished gathering whatever they thought necessary to have, Hermione sent a quick missive to Gringotts requesting the battle goblins at Hogwarts, and they stepped outside the wards, apparating to the Hogs Head.

Right before Snape fled Hogwarts, he looked Hermione dead in the eye, an image of the headmaster's office forming in her head. So while everyone prepared for battle, she drug Fred and Harry with her, leaving George and Remus to greet the goblins. When they entered, the portrait of Albus Dumbledore smiled warmly at them, telling her she wanted the top left drawer in the desk. She found a vial of memories and several vials of an acid green potion. Dumbledore informed them that the potion was the antivenin keyed to Nagini that Snape had developed for Arthur Weasley a few years back and the memories were for Harry. Hermione and Fred chat with Dumbledore while Harry was in the pensieve, the three of them deciding they'd have to go to the chamber of secrets and retrieve basilisk fangs to take on Nagini. Fred seemed amused that they would be using Voldemort's first pet snake to take out his second.

When Harry resurfaced, he seemed extremely out of sorts, but nodded to Dumbledore before leading the way to the chamber. Thus armed, the three returned to the school proper only just in time to join the battle. The goblins proved invaluable, but the forces in Hogwarts were still being overrun. Voldemort called a halt in battle to assess losses and Hermione, Fred, and Luna found themselves in the shrieking shack with Harry listening in to a conversation between Snape and Voldemort himself. After Nagini struck Snape and both Voldemort and his snake were gone, Hermione rushed forwards first, immediately focused on saving her former potions master and friend. Once she had healed up his neck enough to stabilize him and poured antivenin and blood replenishers down his throat, he opened his eyes to croak at her.

"Those are for the real victims, you daft girl," he hissed at her before passing out. With a tearful grin, she had the boys and Luna help her get him back up to the castle and into the infirmary, handing the rest of the antivenin to a grateful Madam Pomfrey.

Upon reaching the Great Hall, Hermione was struck by the devastating amount of death surrounding her. Colin Creevy lay closest to her by the doors, having made his brother and parents take his portkey and chosen to stay behind and fight for their right to be alive. She saw people trying to save a mauled Lavender Brown a bit further down. Her heart stopped when she saw the congregation of Weasleys at the other end of the hall. Dreading each step, she got closer to see the body they were huddled around crying. Fred let out a heartbreaking cry at the bodies of his father and Percy. Hermione felt like she was going to be sick. Even Luna looked dumbfounded, tears in her large eyes.

Turning away, she let out a loud sob, seeing the bodies of both Remus and Tonks lying there, not having known Tonks and found her way into battle and thus completely unprepared to see the new mother lying dead on the ground. There was nowhere she could turn to get away from the death. No one she could turn to that wasn't feeling the pain as badly or worse than her. Hermione hurried from the hall, just barely seeing a flicker of what could only be Harry throwing on the invisibility cloak at the edge of the forest as she stepped outside. Her heart sunk to her feet and she allowed herself to collapse, sobbing bitterly, knowing that he had gone on his own to meet Voldemort. She heard someone sit beside her and looked up to see Draco Malfoy sitting there, patting her shoulder.

"I want to thank you for saving my godfather, Granger," he told her quietly. "I know it seems silly and unimportant right now, but it means the world to me. You truly are the better person. I wanted to tell you this now in case I don't make it. Even if I do, I doubt I'll ever be in a position in which I can tell you again. There's nothing I can do to make this better for you. Again. That is my one biggest regret in life, and will remain so, I promise you."

"Thank you," she whispered back and he nodded, standing and leaving before anyone caught him there and leapt to her defense unnecessarily.

Voldemort returned at the head of his forces, Harry's limp and dead body carried by a sobbing Hagrid. Hermione watched numbly, having no tears left at the moment. Neville challenged Voldemort, pulled the sword of Gryffindor from the hat, killed Nagini, Harry came back to life, and the battle started anew. Hermione was fighting back to back with Fred when Dolohov approached her, saying something about finishing what he started. Remembering Hermione's scar from the Department of Mysteries and what was left of Alicia Spinnet, Fred fought as hard as he could by her side, the two managing to take him down only moments before Molly Weasley herself took down Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry soon triumphed over Voldemort, but that triumph was shortly lived as they again had to take toll of who had died. And there he was lying only three feet behind Hermione and Fred over the equally lifeless body of Lee Jordan and close enough to the bodies of Fenrir Greyback and Lucius Malfoy to tell the tale was George Weasley.

Fred was on top of the body sobbing noisily and begging George to wake up when others started to notice. Hermione was frozen in place, tears pouring from her eyes once more and clouding her vision. The remains of the Weasley family started to gather, trying to calm Fred's hysterics when Harry appeared at her elbow and made to grab her hand. Arthur, Percy, and George all dead. Bill still scarred from his meeting with Greyback a couple years previous and Charlie was probably going to lose his arm, ending his career. Snatching her hand back from him as she mentally took toll of what the war had done to her boyfriend's family, one she considered a second family to her own, she turned and walked into the castle, heading for the hospital wing.

"Hermione, where are you going? Fred needs you!" Harry called after her.

"The hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey needs help," she told him, turning back to her path.

"Let her go," Luna encouraged him, showing up at his other side. "She can't be strong for him right now. Let her be alone to find her strength."


	10. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE: AFTERMATH AND A NEW PLAN

Weeks passed. Hermione had returned to her grandmother's home. She left the wards up, though the rest of the Weasleys, Neville, and Kingsley knew where the house was now. The wards ensured anyone unknown wouldn't see or find her. Fred and Harry were staying with her now. Both had initially tried to stay at the Burrow, but the overwhelming grief had taken the feeling of home from the house. Harry had felt like he was intruding on the family's grief, however keenly he felt it himself, and Fred just wanted to be left alone. He rarely left the basement anymore, obsessively working on his products despite the fact that WWW was one of the only stores in Diagon Alley yet to begin reconstruction or reopen. He had even moved the bed Viktor had been using into the basement to sleep there. No one touched the rooms that had been occupied by the Lupin family and George and Lee. And no one talked about their aversion to those rooms.

"I'm selling the house," Hermione announced one day at breakfast. "Would either of you like to come house hunting with me today?"

"Sure," Harry agreed, happy to be given something productive and out of the house to do.

"I guess," Fred agreed, feeling Hermione's intense stare on the top of his head.

"You're both welcome to move in once I find one. I just can't stay here anymore," she explained, drawing nods from the two. All three of them were a bit unwilling to leave the last place they had seen their friends and family alive and happy, but recognized how unhealthy their behavior was and knew they weren't going to be able to move on surrounded by ghosts.

After breakfast the three set out to Diagon Alley to meet the realtor that had helped the twins find their shop. By three o'clock that afternoon, Hermione was signing papers for her new home, a house a bit larger, but very similar to the one she was planning on selling, and only about an hour's drive away. It was her way of keeping what was while starting anew. The realtor gave her the keys and told her the floo would be set up by the following morning. Thanking him, they all decided to stop by the Burrow to let everyone there know where they would be living starting the next day.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Molly asked Hermione tiredly over tea. Everything the woman did was with an air of exhausted resignation anymore. She was losing an outstanding amount of weight as well in her grief.

"Yes. I need a fresh start," Hermione assured her. "Even if it's not, done is done now."

"I suppose so," Molly agreed, nodding. "I'm going to head up for a bit of a lie down. Will you lot be alright showing yourselves out?"

"Of course, Mum," Fred told her, hugging her tightly before she started up the stairs, patting Harry on the shoulder as she passed him on his way down.

"Ginny wants to help us move our things tomorrow. She'll be over just after breakfast," he told the other two, who nodded. "She's going to ask if Neville and Luna want to help as well. Apparently everyone's going a bit stir-crazy."

"Sounds good," Hermione told him, standing to head out as Ron rushed in, knocking into her as he hurried past.

"Watch it, Hermione," he snapped, continuing up the stairs while Harry and Fred frowned and shook their heads at him.

"Wonder what's got his knickers in a twist," Fred muttered, turning to Hermione who had caught her fall on the family clock and was standing stone still, looking contemplative as she stared into the distance. "You ok, Hermione?"

"Never better," she breathed, taking another moment before focusing on the two. "Let's head back then, shall we?"

That night was a flurry of wand waving to pack everything. The next morning, Ginny, Luna, and Neville arrived as promised right after breakfast to help them move. The task was quickly done with shrinking and featherweight charms and everyone took in Hermione's new home before they went out to help her pick furniture. Harry insisted on paying for the furniture, seeing as he didn't pay a knut for the house and would be living there indefinitely rent free because Hermione refused to take his money. He insisted it was the very least he could do after all her years of helping him.

The group spent the rest of the day in another flurry of wands decorating, furnishing, and unpacking. By supper time (Chinese take out courtesy of Harry again, who claimed a wicked craving), the house looked warm, inviting, and homey. Harry and Fred had each claimed one of the five bedrooms and furnished it to their liking, and Hermione had fully furnished and decorated her own room, the office she was making more of a library, and the kitchen, letting Ginny take over decision making for the two guest rooms and everywhere else. She was not disappointed in the results. Ginny had tried her best to keep Hermione and her personality in mind, but make it a bit more fashionable and modern than Hermione would have herself. Anyone walking in would have assumed it was a model for a country home in a high end interior design magazine, and Luna telling Ginny that made the girl beam in pride, her smile causing a chain reaction. Hermione was suddenly extremely proud of herself for putting them in a position that garnered the first group smiles and laughs since the war ended, knowing it had to happen sometime and somewhere, but very glad it was her first evening in her new home.

September arrived. Ginny, Luna, Neville, and surprisingly enough Ron returned to Hogwarts to complete their seventh year properly. Harry had opted out of not only Hogwarts, but an invitation to join auror training, citing himself done with fighting the forces of evil. The Daily Prophet had had a heyday with that soundbite. Instead, he focused on helping Hermione and Fred make a proper potions lab out of the basement and start an herb garden in a newly installed greenhouse to grow their own supplies in out back.

At the end of August, Snape had been released from Madam Pomfrey's care and took up Hermione's offer to stay at her home seeing as his other option was checking into St. Mungos for another couple months. He had retired from teaching for good and was almost pleasant sometimes, knowing he'd never have to teach another class again. He also helped in the creation and construction of the basement lab, though only in words and design rather than physical work, due to limitations Pomfrey had placed on him and Hermione was upholding, sometimes at wandpoint. By the time school had started, the lab was functional, and he was able to brew more uninvolved potions that didn't take too much time or energy. He spent most of his time otherwise puttering around the greenhouse to assure their ingredients would flourish. Fred and especially Harry had been slightly uneasy with the idea of living with Snape, even temporarily, but so long as they didn't provoke him, he generally kept to himself, put in for any ingredients he used or needed, and even made sure to help with the cooking and grocery shopping, which he was surprisingly good at.

Hermione had requested a year off before heading to school in Melbourne. She had no intention of going back on her promises, but told the dean she needed time to herself to grieve and heal. The Melbourne University of Magic and Sorcery was quickly becoming a highly sought after school, thanks in no small part to her efforts to help put them on the map and Harry's glowing endorsement at the end of the war, so the dean was happy to grant her a year off to take care of herself instead of the rest of the world. Fred had asked her about her parents only once, but she had told him she wasn't ready to face them. He had offered his assistance when she was, which she gratefully accepted, but hadn't brought up since. One night at the end of October, she rolled over and shook Fred awake from the place he had been taking on the other side of her bed for the last couple months.

"What's up, babe?" he asked sleepily.

"What would you say if I told you I could fix this?" she asked, clutching the strange stone amulet she never removed from around her neck.

"Fix what?" he asked, started to wake up and get suspicious.

"This," she said, gesturing around them. "The whole world. What would you say if I could stop the war from ever having happened? If I could make sure none of them ever died?"

"I'd say you were half asleep and not thinking clearly," he told her, voice uneasy. "Are you keeping something from me, Hermione?"

"Sometimes when I touch things I see things," she told him, clutching the amulet tighter. "It's this. It lets me see the whole story. The past, present, and sometimes future. That's what I've been doing these last few months. That's where I've been going. I know everything big that happened during the first war now and a lot of smaller details that will make everything easier. And Snape's helped me procure what I need to destroy the horcruxes."

"And how will you go back and destroy the horcruxes before the war starts?" he asked, intrigued.

"Don't you think it's funny that time turners only work for a few hours at a time? And only go back? You have to live your way back to the present. Kinda seems like someone left the job half done," she commented, having spend a lot of time dwelling on that idea since the afternoon she had touched the Weasley Family Clock and gotten numerous flashes of a different pair of ginger twins that looked more like Bill than Fred and George. They included some where they were making the clock and presenting it to Molly for Bill's first Christmas. Gideon and Fabian Prewett, she knew. They were killed by death eaters in Diagon Alley not far from where their nephew's store now stood empty and broken, she knew, fighting like heroes according to the also deceased Alastor Moody and the flashes she had gleaned from the wall Snape had hidden the felix felicis in. She wondered if Snape had been aware of the location or if it had just been convenient.

"I wouldn't let you go alone," he told her.

"I'll give you my notes to prepare while I try to figure out the time travel thing," she offered.

"You've kept notes?"

"That journal wasn't just for communication," she assured him. "I could change the charms so you could read it too. Then if it were stolen in the past, no one else could read the future either."

"We could save George and Percy and my dad," he breathed, staring past and through her.

"We could save a lot of people. Moody could live. George will never have lost his ear. Harry and Teddy and Susan Bones could have parents. Colin Creevy can become the wizarding world's greatest photographer. Lavender Brown could be a fashion editor. Alicia Spinnet could start for the Holyhead Harpies. Charlie could keep wrangling dragons. Sirius could never go to Azkaban. You could have uncles," she told him, causing his eyes to snap back to her.

"You'd do this for me?" he asked, looking awestruck.

"_We'll_ do it for _everyone_," she corrected, smiling softly.

"Marry me."

"Seriously?"

"I've never been more serious in my life," he told her. "Merlin knows I've been a terrible person to be around, but you've been there working hard to try and make me smile at least a little every day. You sacrificed your place by Harry's side in the war to include George and I. You made sure I had somewhere to fall apart and stood strong for me when I didn't have the strength to do so myself. Now that we're free from war and you have a wonderful future ahead of you, you're willing to throw yourself back into battle to give me my family and twin back. You're an incredible person, Hermione Granger. I've never loved anyone, not even George, as much as I do you and I don't want to spend another day of my life without you."

"Then I suppose we'll have to find some time for you to get me a pretty ring so everyone knows I'm off limits then, won't we?" she asked, smiling at him with unshed tears in her eyes.

"That's a yes?"

"That's a resounding yes, Fred. I love you," she told him, laughing with him as he pulled her close and kissed her thoroughly.

"Tonight we celebrate. Tomorrow, we'll go out first thing and get you that ring. Can't have anyone thinking you're available. After that, we visit the Burrow. This will cheer everyone up until we can fix things. Then the plotting commences," he decided, feeling lighter than he had since the war ended with the promise of her love and the direction such an important mission gave him.


End file.
